Posted on 02/05/2006 5:19:32 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says President George W. Bush's warrantless surveillance program appears to be illegal.
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Specter called the administration's legal reasoning "strained and unrealistic" and said the program appears to be "in flat violation" of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Hearings into the surveillance program are scheduled to begin Monday on Capitol Hill.
Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, the former head of the National Security Agency, defended the surveillance on ABC's "This Week" and the Fox News Network, the International Herald Tribune reported.
"It's about speed," General Hayden said in his ABC appearance. "It's about hot pursuit of al-Qaida communications."
The Bush administration says the surveillance has been carefully monitored and targeted at individuals with known or strongly suspected terrorist ties. But officials have also given different estimates of the amount of monitoring.
And it was illegal to intercept Axis communications during WWII
And of course it was illegal to intercept communicaitons during the cold war.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Title 50 of the U.S. Code, Chapter 36, Subchapter I, Section 1802, "Electronic surveillance authorization without court order," reads: "[T]he President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year," provided a series of conditions are met. Surveillance must be directed only at agents of foreign powers; there can be no likely surveillance of a "U.S. person"
The "U.S. person" definition "does not include a corporation or an association which is a foreign power," according to the same law. An "agent of a foreign power" is anyone, citizen or otherwise, who "knowingly engages in sabotage or international terrorism, or activities that are in preparation therefor, for or on behalf of a foreign power." Which means that people who do not help al-Qaeda or other terrorists are safe from surveillance
14th Circuit's 1980 decision case, involving the surveillance of a Vietnamese spy named David Truong, "The Truong court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." The court added, "We take it for granted that the President does have that authority."
The court in the Truong case noted that the executive "not only has superior expertise in the area of foreign intelligence, it is also constitutionally designated as the pre-eminent authority in foreign affairs." And the Constitution's framers knew what they were about, according to the Truong court: "Attempts to counter foreign threats to the national security require the utmost stealth, speed and secrecy. A warrant requirement would add a procedural hurdle that would reduce the flexibility of executive foreign-intelligence initiatives."
Way to go, Arlo! Draw a foregone conclusion, and announce it the day before you hold your ego-massaging hearings. Two big wastes of taxpayer money exposed: The Sphincter AND his hearings.
You are right, and thanks for setting that straight. It does not erase his past RINO history, but is somewhat vindicating in this instance.
Another news service -AP?--quoted Specter as also saying the law may not pass muster when measured against the Constitution.
vaudine
term limits, the only way to get our gov't back.....
????? Far be it from me to judge, not being Jewish myself, but are "good Jewish boys" all set with murdering unborn babies?
The program is not in violation of FISA.What a ditz.
Gee, Arlen, why didn't you tell him that 3 years ago?
"Funny, but right after that Specter said FISA was probably unconstitutional. Wonder why that was left off?"
It's called SPIN...
That right there is enough reason to get a new committee chairman.
Thanks for highlighting your link.
Well, I will reserve my desire for Arlen's head on a platter for awhile longer...
A concurrence, but Specter has got to learn to NOT give spin to the enemy.
Read the article before you jump to an improper conclusion.
The Senate Democrats know their hopes are nearly dashed.
RINOs are useful creatures from time to time.
Sphincter you mean?
Setting the Spector story aside, and disregarding the usual partisan politics, what we have here is a Constitutional contest between the executive and legislative branches. Not anything really new. Sometimes the President wins. Sometimes he loses.
This time, he'll win . . . I hope
It was so easy to believe that he would cut the legs out from under the President. He has done it so very often before.
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