Spy Games

Less than three months after the White House capitulated on the warrantless wiretapping issue-- agreeing that, yes, following the law won't be a problem-- their new National Intelligence Director is trying to push the limits once again.

From the AP-

President Bush's spy chief is pushing to expand the government's surveillance authority at the same time the administration is under attack for stretching its domestic eavesdropping powers.

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has circulated a draft bill that would expand the government's powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, liberalizing how that law can be used...

Okay, before we continue, it must be point that the existing 1978 law is pretty liberalized as it is. The law merely asks that warrants be approved by a secret court (which is virtually a rubberstamp) to ensure that all spying activity is legitimate. Warrants can be issued retroactively in emergency or urgent situations, and allows anywhere from 72 hours to 15 hours before getting said warrant. Etc etc.

The only reason you need to liberalize it even more than that is you've been abusing your power.

According to the AP piece, McConnell met with officials from the National Security, Justice Department, and other agencies to see what pesky rules and law currently "ties their hands". Yikes! Suddenly that 2002 Onion article-- 'Bill Of Rights Pared Down To A Manageable Six'-- doesn't seem as funny.

These are, of course, the people who spent an entire year infiltrating peace groups before the 2004 Republican National Convention, put anti-Bush people on the no-fly list, keep a database on protestors, and the like. Not to mention reports that the President's now-defunct (?) program was a dead-end waste that did intrude on the privacy of countless Americans.

And they expect to be trusted with broad and unaccountable spying powers... why?

From the AP report again, here's some of the proposed changes-

-Give the NSA the power to monitor foreigners without seeking FISA court approval, even if the surveillance is conducted by tapping phones and e-mail accounts in the United States...

-Clarify the standards the FBI and NSA must use to get court orders for basic information about calls and e-mails — such as the number dialed, e-mail address, or time and date of the communications. Civil liberties advocates contend the change will make it too easy for the government to access this information.

-Triple the life span of a FISA warrant for a non-U.S. citizen from 120 days to one year, allowing the government to monitor much longer without checking back in with a judge.

-Give telecommunications companies immunity from civil liability for their cooperation with Bush's terrorist surveillance program. Pending lawsuits against companies including Verizon and AT&T allege they violated privacy laws by giving phone records to the NSA for the program.

-Extend from 72 hours to one week the amount of time the government can conduct surveillance without a court order in emergencies.

Feel safer?

As Digby says, "If they can't 'protect us' with that kind of [existing] power then they are either incompetent or they are doing something so wrong that even a kangaroo court won't sign off on it. Loosening those rules is absurd on its face."

But hey, what do I know... I'm just a crazy moonbat.