Leading Conservatives Call for Extensive Hearings on NSA Surveillance; Checks on Invasive Federal Po

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=59381 ^ | January 17, 2006 | Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances

[Perlstein]

Leading Conservatives Call for Extensive Hearings on NSA Surveillance; Checks on Invasive Federal Powers Essential

1/17/2006 6:36:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Laura Brinker, 202-715-1540, for Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, laura.brinker@dittus.com

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances (PRCB) today called upon Congress to hold open, substantive oversight hearings examining the President's authorization of the National Security Agency (NSA) to violate domestic surveillance requirements outlined in the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, chairman of PRCB, was joined by fellow conservatives Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR); David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Paul Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, in urging lawmakers to use NSA hearings to establish a solid foundation for restoring much needed constitutional checks and balances to intelligence law.

"When the Patriot Act was passed shortly after 9-11, the federal government was granted expanded access to Americans' private information," said Barr. "However, federal law still clearly states that intelligence agents must have a court order to conduct electronic surveillance of Americans on these shores. Yet the federal government overstepped the protections of the Constitution and the plain language of FISA to eavesdrop on Americans' private communication without any judicial checks and without proof that they are involved in terrorism."

The following can be attributed to PRCB members:

"I believe that our executive branch cannot continue to operate without the checks of the other branches. However, I stand behind the President in encouraging Congress to operate cautiously during the hearings so that sensitive government intelligence is not given to our enemies." -- Paul Weyrich, chairman and CEO, Free Congress Foundation

"Public hearings on this issue are essential to addressing the serious concerns raised by alarming revelations of NSA electronic eavesdropping." -- Grover Norquist, president, Americans for Tax Reform

"The need to reform surveillance laws and practices adopted since 9/11 is more apparent now than ever. No one would deny the government the power it needs to protect us all, but when that power poses a threat to the basic rights that make our nation unique, its exercise must be carefully monitored by Congress and the courts. This is not a partisan issue; it is an issue of safeguarding the fundamental freedoms of all Americans so that future administrations do not interpret our laws in ways that pose constitutional concerns." -- David Keene, chairman, American Conservative Union

"If the law is not reformed, ordinary Americans' personal information could be swept into all-encompassing federal databases encroaching upon every aspect of their private lives. This is of particular concern to gun owners, whose rights guaranteed under the Second Amendment are currently being infringed upon under the Patriot Act's controversial record search provisions." -- Alan Gottlieb, founder, Second Amendment Foundation

Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances is an organization dedicated to protecting Americans' fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment and ensuring that all provisions of the Patriot Act are in line with the Constitution. For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.checksbalances.org.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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/© 2006 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

[inquest]

Gitmo itself is legal, for whatever that's worth. As for the legality of holding whomever they're holding, that would probably vary from case to case, and I'm not privy to the specific facts of their cases.

Now what that has to do with what we were talking about, only you know.

[Lakeshark]

A little light in the loafers......yes.

[Darksheare]

Yeah.

[Darksheare]

AH.
So Gitmo itself is legal.
Now, what about the wiretaps?
Intel gathered from wiretaps?
Intel gathered from listening to UNDECLARED combatants?

[inquest]

Now, what about the wiretaps?

According to the article I referred you to earlier, the administration has acknowledged that it has bypassed FISA, which makes its actions illegal. The post-9/11 AOF doesn't negate FISA.

[Darksheare]

FISA only applies if the people beig looked at are US citizens.
Doesn't apply to foreign undeclared combatants.

[inquest]

At the very least, it applies in cases where there's a significant likelihood that the communications of a "U.S. person" (defined generally as either a citizen or permanent resident alien) will be intercepted.

Besides, it's been acknowledged that FISA was bypassed, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.

[kbo]

I'm pretty sure that what you are saying here, is the same thing Lindsey Graham was implying during the Alito hearings.

[Boot Hill]

conserv13:   "So you are okay with warrantless wiretaps? I'm not."

By both its bare language as well as intent, the Fourth Amendment is not a guarantee to be fee from "warrantless" searches and seizures, only "unreasonable" searches and seizures. While the courts have held that almost always that means a warrant is required, their are constitutional exceptions to that requirement and warrantless foreign intelligence intercepts are one those exceptions. You do not have an unimpeded right to communicate with foreign terrorists.

"However, because of the President's constitutional duty to act for the United States in the field of foreign relations, and his inherent power to protect national security in the context of foreign affairs, we reaffirm what we held in United States v. Clay, supra, that the President may constitutionally authorize warrantless wiretaps for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence."

--United States v. Brown, 484 F.2d 418, 426 (1973)

"We agree with the district court that the Executive Branch need not always obtain a warrant for foreign intelligence surveillance."

--U.S. v. Truong Dinh Hung, 629 F.2d 908, 913 (1980)

"Prior to the enactment of FISA, virtually every court that had addressed the issue had concluded that the President had the inherent power to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance to collect foreign intelligence information, and that such surveillances constituted an exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment."

--United States v. Duggan, 743 F.2d 59 (1984)

"The Truong court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent [constitutional] authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information."

--In re Sealed Case, 310, F3d. 717, 742 (2002)

"We take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President’s constitutional power."

--In re Sealed Case, 310, F3d. 717, 742 (2002)

[Lakeshark]

Careful....you might confuse them and make their heads explode.......

:-)

[darkwing104]

Thanks for the info and ammo.

[Lakeshark]

I think he's crawled back under his rock nursing his wounds...........fatal from Algores disease.......

I am outtahere.

[kbo]

Have you read about Russell Tice - the guy from the NSA who is wants to testify to Congress about domestic surveillance? I saw just a few minutes of him on tv last week, and read a brief article that had a letter from him to Congress, but don't know much else. He is apparently one of the sources for the NY Times article.

I tend to agree with you and have always heard that the NSA folks are very honest and well trained on what's legal and what's not. The thing is, are these leakers/whistleblowers from the NSA?

I'm in the technology field and the one thing that always made me feel somewhat safe from "eavesdropping" is the sheer volume of calls and internet messages that are out there at any given moment, and the fact that that volume grows every day.

[Zechariah11]

These are goonies -- all.

[inquest]

I think he's crawled back under his rock nursing his wounds

Don't look now, but the last post was from me, and I'm awaiting his response. I'd quote you the number, but I know how much you hate that, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

[darkwing104]

Have you read about Russell Tice - the guy from the NSA who is wants to testify to Congress about domestic surveillance?

My gut feeling on Tice is that he is a former disgruntled employee with an Axe to grind. He tried and couldn't destroy a fellow analyst's career within the DIA, who was probably innocent, and he had a meltdown.

Whistle blowers have avenues within the NSA and DOD that will protect them. His Whistle blower story is pure crap. I doubt he tried to use the IG/Complaint channels within the agencies at all.

I wouldn't trust him when it came to being discrete with vital information. He is likely one of the leaker's and probably a facilitator for the person who leaked most of the story to the NY Times.

[Boot Hill]

I think each of you might benefit from reviewing the cites in post #289

[Eva]

From Frontpage Magazine: How the Patriot Act Saves Lives By Robert Spencer Despite numerous foiled terrorist attacks, the usual suspects clamor for its repeal. More (Just guess who the "usual suspects" are)

[sport]

Since he turned his coat, Bob Barr can be called a lot of things but I do not believe that coservative is one of them.

[WatchingInAmazement]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801588.html?sub=new

The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff
How a Well-Connected Lobbyist Became the Center of a Far-Reaching Corruption Scandal

By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01

A quarter of a century ago, Abramoff and anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist were fellow Young Turks of the Reagan revolution. They organized Massachusetts college campuses in the 1980 election -- Abramoff while he was an undergraduate at Brandeis and Norquist at Harvard Business School -- to help Ronald Reagan pull an upset in the state.

They moved to Washington, maneuvered to take over the College Republicans -- at the time a sleepy establishment organization -- and transformed it into a right-wing activist group. They were joined by Ralph Reed, an ambitious Georgian whose later Christian conversion would fuel his rise to national political prominence.

Soon they made headlines with such tactics as demolishing a mock Berlin Wall in Lafayette Park, where they also burned a Soviet leader in effigy. "We want to shock them," Abramoff told The Post at the time. - snip