Posted on 05/25/2006 6:33:17 PM PDT by hipaatwo
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI wants to interview top members of Congress from both parties about the leak to The New York Times concerning the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, sources told CNN.
The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call first reported that the FBI wanted to question federal legislators as part of its probe. The sources do not know if any members have been interviewed yet.
The FBI declined to comment.
The New York Times in December reported the existence of the surveillance program, which allows phone calls between the United States and overseas to be monitored without a court warrant so long as one party is a terror suspect. It was authorized by President Bush shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Only a few members of the House and Senate were briefed on the NSA program before it became public.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Now we KNOW that even if the leak came from Rockefeller's office...it couldn't have been HIM...it had to have been a low rung office worker....
Just like with that MEMO that was found telling their strategy for using the Iraq War to take down President Bush...an underling did that, not the Senator.
I know!! Imagine if Hastert sued ABC for their whole stock value as of today! He would win in Federal court. He has to go to directly to Federal court because of his position as Speaker.
To: mewzilla
Test case for intel leak warrants. More to come...
8 posted on 05/24/2006 1:04:06 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (There are only a few absolute truths in life, the rest are just opinion.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
If they do a through job there may be but a handfull of CONgresscritters left & that would suit me fine.
Lookie here.
How dare someone investigate the intelligence committee for leaks(that have obviously come from that source). Doesn't someone know that powereful politicians are much more important than national security?
Well, well, well.
Very interesting.......hehehehehehehe
Of course it does. Why else is Congress making such a fuss about Jefferson's office being searched.
Heaven only knows what they're hiding in their offices.
Mac's been saying it. Hot summer coming up . . .
Quit!
You're making me nostalgic for the good ole 90's! LOL
Pinz
It's beginning like there's a Vast Executive Wing Conspiracy afoot in Washington. I'd love to see this net that may be blanketing the capitol drawn up and prosecutions start in, oh say, February of '08. :-)
Can't wait for Tony's book to come out in 2011 with behind-the-scenes descriptions of these goings on.
Pinz (or shall I sign off -- Pollyanna lol)
What you will find here...is that its the senate/house aid's that are dropping the stories in the press. Over the next week...as you watch Pelosi and Hastert set up their fights against the White House...watch for some major aid's to resign and leave DC. The stall will give them time to slip out and avoid even deeper questions about what the Aid's are doing with classified information.
When you're smiling...............
The House and the Senate are going to get on their high horses again and claim that they are overstepping their positions.
I can see this one going to the Supreme Court.
Most definitely SCOTUS...
What bothers me is how obvious it is that as a whole, Congress does not concern itself with representing constituents.
I understand my reps will not always take a position to my liking. That is the way of the world.
But this "in your face" attitude seems to have increased tenfold in the past few months.
Shit rolls downhill and Capitol Hill is no different.We will never change it at the top. America needs to wake up and realize they get away with it because we let them get away with it. Until we change things at home, nothing will change on the Hill.
Senators Feinstein and Specter Seek to Reaffirm FISA as the Exclusive Means for Domestic Electronic Surveillance on Americans
- Bill also streamlines FISA procedures to allow process to move faster -
May 24, 2006
PDF VersionPrint version
Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) today introduced legislation that would reaffirm that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is the exclusive means by which our government can conduct electronic surveillance of U.S. persons on U.S. soil for foreign intelligence purposes.
Beyond this, the legislation makes significant changes to the existing FISA authorities and procedures to prevent bureaucratic delay in an emergency circumstance. These changes are designed to allow applications to move faster from the field to the FISA Court, and to allow it to handle any increased caseload that will result from bringing the current National Security Agency (NSA) program into the FISA regime.
“Our nation is at war against terrorists, who seek to attack us in unpredictable and asymmetric ways,” Senator Feinstein said. “It will be a long war, and it will be mostly fought in the shadows. Our intelligence agencies must have the necessary tools to thwart those who seek to do us harm.
“But it is important that we wage this war in a way that upholds our laws and our principles. We must not sacrifice the basic rights enshrined in the Constitution, including the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.”
“The terrorist surveillance program threatens those protections. As one who has been briefed on the details of the NSA surveillance program, I have come to believe that this surveillance can be done, without sacrifice to our national security, through court-issued individualized warrants for content collection on U.S. persons under the FISA process.”
“The way the Administration has moved forward with this program has brought us to the brink of a Constitutional confrontation. The legislation that Senator Specter and I are introducing today ensures that the surveillance program is being carried out under the law and restores the checks and balances between the branches of government.”
Specifically, the bill would:
• Re-state that FISA is the exclusive means by which our government can conduct electronic surveillance of U.S. persons on U.S. soil for foreign intelligence purposes;
• Prohibit the use of federal funds for any future domestic electronic surveillance that does not fully comply with the law; and
• Expressly state that there is no such thing as an “implied” repeal of FISA laws. In other words, no future bill can be interpreted as authorizing an exemption from FISA unless it expressly makes an exception.
The legislation also streamlines FISA procedures and provides additional resources to allow the process to move faster. It would:
• Extend the period of emergency electronic surveillance from 72 hours to seven days;
• Allow the Attorney General to delegate his authority to approve FISA warrant applications to two other Senate-confirmed Justice Department officials;
• Authorize designated supervisors at the NSA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to initiate emergency electronic surveillance to prevent bureaucratic delay in an emergency circumstance, provided that the surveillance is reported to the Attorney General within 24 hours, and approved by the Attorney General within three days and the FISA Court within seven days;
• Expand FISA’s allowance for 15 days of warrantless surveillance following a declaration of war to also authorize 15 days of surveillance following a Congressional authorization to use military force or a major terrorist attack against our nation;
• Authorize additional personnel at the NSA, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the FISA Court, to reduce the time it takes to initiate, review, and file a FISA application;
• Allow for additional judges to be appointed to the FISA Court as needed to manage the caseload;
• Facilitate a review of the FISA application process, culminating in a report to Congress designed to eliminate any unnecessary delay in the filings;
• Mandate the creation of a secure, classified document management system to facilitate electronic filing; and
• Require that the full Intelligence Committees be briefed on all electronic surveillance, and related programs.
“We’ve added these changes to help transform the FISA process into one agile enough to meet the Administration’s timeliness needs, while also preserving judicial oversight and our important constitutional privacy protections,” Senator Feinstein said.
Background on FISA Court
The FISA Court was created in 1978, following the Church Committee’s investigation of some of our government’s worst civil rights violations – J. Edgar Hoover’s spying on Martin Luther King, Jr., and Vietnam-era “enemies lists,” for example. These abuses were the result of domestic spying – electronic surveillance – under the guise of foreign intelligence.
In response, Congress, working with both the Ford and Carter Administrations, drafted and later enacted FISA to be the exclusive means to conduct electronic surveillance of U.S. persons. It created a special court that has to approve a warrant for every domestic wiretap, and provides for careful congressional oversight.
http://feinstein.senate.gov/06releases/r-fisa-exclusive.htm
And then Sphincter says on the Senate Floor:
(snip)
I do have one concern over the bill, a concern over
constitutionality. The bill states that the only way the President may
carry out electronic surveillance is through the procedures outlined in
FISA or the Federal Criminal Code. During the four hearings I held in
the Senate Judiciary Committee, numerous scholars and five FISA judges
called this provision into question. They testified that the President
has certain inherent powers that we in Congress cannot take away. They
explained that to the extent a bill purports to override the
President's inherent powers, and tell the President that he may not use
them, the bill might be unconstitutional.
I think this is precisely the type of complex and weighty concern
that we should work out in the Judiciary Committee, through study,
analysis, and discussion. And I look forward to having those
discussions with Senator Feinstein and the other members of the
committee.
I urge my colleagues to support the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Improvement and Enhancement Act of 2006.
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2006_cr/s3001.html
Sphincter just wants to be more important than President Bush...and have more power, than the POTUS, SO MUCH!!
And DiFi...is a ditz.
Just THINK, though, there is a chance that this time next year, Leahy will be in charge...and NO TELLING what kind of investigations and hearings he would line up.
After that bit of pandering piece of crapola that they voted for yesterday....I am not so sure that I wouldn't like to see Sphincter knocked down a few pegs.
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