Posted on 01/25/2008 6:28:13 AM PST by SE Mom
One week from today, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) will expire unless Congress passes a new version that President Bush is willing to sign. If it expires, our intelligence gatherers here and abroad will be rendered blind and deaf because the legality of their operations will be put in limbo.
~snip~ Last May, the FISA court issued a secret decision that imposed new limitations on gathering foreign intelligence that caused a crisis for NSA, CIA and the other intelligence agencies. In one reported incident, the new restrictions caused a nine-hour delay in gathering intelligence essential to an ongoing combat mission to rescue three kidnapped American soldiers in Iraq.
~snip~ The House bill would be a disaster for intelligence agencies. It would -- for the first time in American history -- impose a requirement to obtain a FISA court warrant to intercept communications of persons reasonably believed to be overseas. And (in another blatantly unconstitutional provision) military intelligence gathering would be subjected to FISA court proceedings.
Think about that. Put yourself in the boots of a SEAL platoon leader trying to determine if you’re walking into an al-Queda ambush. You probably need -- right now, not ten hours from now -- intelligence about a bunch of guys sitting two kilometers over some hill in Afghanistan. If any of them may be in contact with anyone in the United States, you have to get a warrant from the FISA court to listen in on his cell phone.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
The Democrats are playing politics with our national security- it’s time for us to speak up.
let it die , The 1978 FISA law is good enough for all.
Except that this is 2008, and the world is a different place.
Soem days I think a good way to start house cleaning would be to hang the entire Congress.....
Isn’t THAT the truth.
You’ll love it when hitllay has these same powers. think about it !
If the call went through an American switch with both ends 200 meters away, you still need a warrant.
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