Working to prevent future terrorist attacks

Comments

1. Eddie Garcia says:

   February 26, 2008 at 8:11 am

   My God. Here he goes again.

   This man has NO SHAME. No shame whatsoever.

   Without congressional action, the current Protect America Act provisions expired on Feb. 16. This means our intelligence agencies lost some of the critical tools necessary to protect our national security and help keep us safe at home.

   First of all, if the warrantless wiretaps were so damn important, you’d think that somebody would have remembered to pay the bill, right? :

   WASHINGTON—Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau’s repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.
   A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI’s lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.
   In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation “was halted due to untimely payment,” the audit found.

   Further SurgeBob:

   In fact, Adm. Mike McConnell, director of National Intelligence, recently stated that before Congress enacted the Protect America Act, the intelligence community was “missing” two-thirds of all overseas terrorist communications. We simply cannot afford to let this happen again. This directly endangers American lives.

   Scared yet? Republicans are doing their best to keep you that way, and of course, the always reliable “good German” Bob Goodlatte falls right into lockstep.

   Let’s keep in mind that the holdup is over one issue and one issue only, the issue that SurgeBob conveniently forgot to remind you of: amnesty for the telecoms. Retroactive immunity for…wait, I thought they didn’t do anything illegal?
   Retroactive immunity for the phone companies that gave the Bush Adminstration access to your communications, in violation of FISA law.

   Write that on your hand so you don’t forget it: IN VIOLATION OF FISA LAW.

   Greenwald, 12 February:

   How far we’ve come — really: disgracefully tumbled — from the days of the Church Committee, which aggressively uncovered surveillance abuses and then drafted legislation to outlaw them and prevent them from ever occurring again. It is, of course, precisely those post-Watergate laws which the Bush administration and their telecom conspirators purposely violated, and for which they are about to receive permanent, lawless protection.

   Here is what could happen if the law expired:

   ¿ The government would retain all the powers it had before last August under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which requires the government to obtain court approval for surveillance conducted on U.S. soil or against U.S. targets.

   ¿ Classified orders allowing the monitoring of international telephone calls, e-mail traffic and other communications under the Protect America Act routinely are valid for a year, so they would not expire before August.

   ¿ Those orders cover terrorist groups or telecommunication providers in their entirety, according to government officials and lawmakers. New groups, phone numbers and other information could be added to existing orders, Democratic lawmakers say.

   ¿ If a targeted person uses a telecommunication company not covered by such an order, the administration says the government may have to obtain a new order from the FISA court. The administration views this as a cumbersome process; Democrats say obtaining emergency FISA approval is straightforward.

   ¿ Administration officials say that without the PAA, they may have to seek FISA court approval to monitor communications between foreigners that pass through U.S. switches. Democrats counter that such communications are covered by existing directives.

   ¿ The White House also asserts that telecommunication companies would be less likely to help the government without the special legal protections in the PAA.

   And yet Goodlatte seems to have no problem blithely repeating the lies:

   Our intelligence community needs a long-term fix to gaps in our intelligence and it is the responsibility of the Congress to act on this critical matter. The Protect America Act, which helps keep us safe and on the offense against the terrorists plotting to attack America, must be made permanent, and I strongly urge the House Democratic leaders to immediately bring this legislation before the full House for a vote. We must not turn a blind eye to foreign terrorist activities and communications. Yet, by allowing the Protect America Act to expire, that is exactly the result.

   Emphasis mine.
   Facts, it would seem, are inconvenient to the Republican narrative.

   Harry Reid gives it to you straight:

   “But for the President, this debate isn’t about protecting America; it’s about protecting the telecommunications industry and his own Administration. He has explicitly refused to compromise on immunity for telecommunications companies even as he claimed the law’s expiration endangers Americans. I can only conclude, then, that the President would put Americans’ lives on the line to let phone companies off the hook. Democrats have different priorities.”

   Oh, and something else SurgeBob neglected to mention:

   Not a Single House Republican Voted to Extend Protect America Act. On February 13, 195 House Republicans voted against passage of a bill to extend the Protect America Act of 2007 (PL 110-55) for 21 days beyond its current expiration date of Feb. 16. The Protect America Act amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to expand the authority of the attorney general and the director of National Intelligence to conduct surveillance of suspected foreign terrorists without a court warrant. [HR 5349, House Vote #54, 2/13/08]

   Republicans Refused to Even Allow Their Staff Members to Attend Bipartisan, Bicameral Meeting to Seek Compromise on FISA Reform. “In what should have been a bipartisan, bicameral meeting, staff members of the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees met today to work in good faith to reach a compromise on FISA reform. As we have said, we are using this week to work on a compromise that strengthens our national security and protects Americans’ privacy. Unfortunately, we understand our Republican counterparts instructed their staffs not to attend this working meeting, therefore not allowing progress to be made in a bipartisan, bicameral way. While we are disappointed that today’s meeting could not reflect a bipartisan effort, we will continue to work and hope Republicans will join us to put our nation’s security first.” [Statement by Chairmen Leahy, Rockefeller, Conyers and Reyes, 2/21/08]

   And SurgeBob is urging DEMOCRATS to pass the legislation?
   So, let me see if I have this straight. Without retroactive immunity for the telecoms, Bush and the Republicans will not permit an extension of the cynically-named Protect America Act, therefore DEMOCRATS are exposing you to danger.
   Right?
   What is the urgency? Remember how FISA works? That has not changed. The government can still spy all it wants, it just needs an easily obtainable warrant within 72 days of starting to do it.
   That HAS NOT CHANGED.
   Write that on your hand so you don’t forget it.
   It HAS NOT CHANGED.
   This is not about your safety. It’s about protecting the telecoms from lawsuits over illegal wiretaps taken at the behest of the Bush Administration.

   Sean Conway, the chief of staff for Colorado Republican U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard:

   And the House has just simply said, we’re not going to accept this, because we want to have, you know, terrorists be able to sue phone companies if they’re listening to our conversations. It’s insane.

   Insane is right. This guy wants you to believe that House Democrats want terrorists to be able to sue the phone companies.
   Yeah. Right.

   And Bob Goodlatte, true to form, is doing his best to bring the fearmongering right home to you.

   Vote. Him. OUT.
2. Brent Holl says:

   February 26, 2008 at 11:43 am

   Congressman Goodlatte has clearly stated the conservative view. It should be taken with considerable skepticism however, because it so clearly states the dogmatic, rigid, ideological “new realities” of the far right. Several of his points have been soundly repudiated, (fight them there, so we don’t have to fight them here) and have been exposed as myths.

   Mr. Goodlatte and the Republican Party have intentionally chosen to ignore the law and forgive the lawbreakers in the name of national security. The tired, fear-mongering, monolithic dogma of “9/11 changed everything” is a dangerous attempt to rewrite the constitution and give the executive branch more power that it needs to protect us.

   To call this a “bipartisan” measure is simply untrue! When the Republicans in Congress vote as a solid block and some Democrats join them, calling it bipartisan is false. If the Republicans ever step out of line and join with the Democratic majority (and the vast majority of Americans), then we can say it’s bipartisan.

   The President has MORE than enough power to protect us from any danger. To give him MORE power is to endanger the civil liberties we all hold so valuable. For Congressman Goodlatte and the Republican Party to use such blatant fear-mongering as a political tool is shameful. We’re smarter and more capable than that. Please!
3. Marjorie says:

   February 29, 2008 at 3:56 pm

   Since we’re on the subject of fear-mongering, let me add this. I received a call the other night inviting me to participate in a teleconference townhall meeting with Bob Goodlatte.

   When one of the callers asked about the issue of illegal immigration, Rep. Goodlatte expressed the opinion that, because illegals had broken the law to get into this country, they must have criminal tendencies and we just don’t need anymore criminals in this country. Unbelievable!
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