Several weeks ago, when the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (S. 2248) was up, I contacted both my Senators, urging them to oppose it, especially the telco immunity clauses. I need not have bothered; I knew one, Senator Dodd, would oppose immunity because his of past history on this issue. And I knew the other, Senator Lieberman, would favor immunity.
Today, I received an email letter from Holy Joe, to
Thank you for contacting me to express your views regarding extending the Protect America Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-55), which was signed into law by the President on August 5, 2007. I welcome the opportunity to share my thoughts with you on this serious issue.
Senator Holy Joe tells me flat out that it wasn't luck nor accident that the US hasn't suffered another terrorist attack since 9/11, it was the good work of the US Intelligence Community. Who, alas, had been hampered because while the terrorists have been keeping up with new technology, the intelligence community hasn't been able to, since the original FISA law giving judicial oversight to electronic eavesdropping was passed in 1978. Somehow, the problem that developed had magically changed from technological to judicial:
This became apparent in May 2007 when the FISA court, which was created to approve applications for FISA warrants, issued a ruling that caused significant intelligence gaps in our collection of intelligence information from foreign terrorists overseas. As a result, the intelligence community was not able to capture a great deal of foreign intelligence information that it had been able to capture before the FISA court ruling without first obtaining a FISA warrant.
This is the first I've heard that Bushco actually did go to the FISA courts - who, to my admittedly incomplete knowledge, never denied a warrant asked in the cause of national security - and were denied! Maybe the warrants they wanted weren't in support of national security, but were fishing trips. Stupid courts! Don't they know that we need to keep our eyes and ears on everyone, see if they have any bad habits?? But all was not lost! Good ol' Holy Joe joined "... a strong bipartisan effort..." to pass S. 2248, which not only fixed the technological issues, but provided for more protection of citizen rights than ever!
For example, S. 2248 would require for the first time that a court order be obtained to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance of an American abroad.
But it "...also included a provision that would grant legal protections to the telecommunications companies that assisted with foreign intelligence collection..." that they needed, because
I supported that provision because those companies were asked to assist the intelligence community in defending the country, and they did so in good faith. Allowing those companies to be held liable for that assistance would be unfair and would serve as a grave disincentive for the private sector to partner with the government on issues of national security in the future. It is important to remember that the federal government itself does not have the capacity of its own telecommunications company and must rely on private providers in this instance. As the nature of the terrorist threat continues to evolve, we will need the assistance of everyone - the private sector and the general public - to keep us safe.
Good faith, indeed. I sure would like to be able to break the law in good faith - the good faith that I would have the promise of the government that I would be able to get away with it! In the name, of course, of National Security AND protection of citizens' rights. What could be better?
But I think the telco's have already been promised immunity by the Bush Administration, and they could probably take it to court, and win. I think the real story is that any investigation into illegal activities by the telcos would inevitable point back to the origins of the activities: The Bush Administration.
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