By Kenneth J. Theisen, 11/15/06
On November 9, 2006, only two days after an election that was widely interpreted as a rebuke to his policies, President Bush made the following statement from the White House as to his priorities before the end of the year, “The other important priority in the war on terror is for the Congress to pass the Terrorist Surveillance Act (TSA).” While the elections may have forced the Bush regime to involve the Democrats more in its fascist program, the fundamental character and direction of has not changed.
A little background – After Sept. 11, 2001, Bush secretly ordered
the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor communications between
people in the U.S. and alleged “terrorists” overseas. He bypassed
requirements for court approval of such eavesdropping as required by
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This spy program was
disclosed last December by the New York Times and it came under
immediate attack. Critics of this massive invasion of privacy tried to
discover details of the NSA spy program, but the regime hid behind the
magic words “national security” and claimed all information regarding
the program was classified. Instead of halting the illegal program,
Congress has instead tried to legalize and expand it. While legislation
is pending, the Bush regime has continued its illegal surveillance of
our phone calls and emails.
The administration will be pushing passage of the TSA as one of its
primary agenda items for the near future. According to the Associated
Press, “In speeches over the next few weeks, the Justice Department
will launch a new campaign for the legislation by casting the choice as
one between supporting the program or dropping it altogether – and
appearing soft on al-Qaida.” Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will
make a speech on November 18 at the Air Force Academy highlighting the
need for the TSA. Assistant attorney general for the national security,
Kenneth Wainstein, will do the same in a speech before the American Bar
Association on November 15th.
There are a number of bills in Congress right now meant to legalize
warrantless surveillance. The Bush regime is primarily supporting
Senate Bill 3931 and House Bill 5825. The following are a few of the
provisions contained in these TSA bills.
They would allow warrantless surveillance of international emails
and phone calls by the National Security Agency without any evidence of
conspiracy with “terrorists.” A warrant would only be required if the
sender/caller and all recipients are in the U.S.
Allows the U.S. Attorney General to order secret cooperation of any
person in the U.S. to give access to communications, equipment, or
stored communications. Businesses that cooperate, such as your
internet provider or telephone company, would get paid and received
immunity from criminal prosecution or civil lawsuits. No judicial
review would be required.
Deletes the provision in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
that says that its procedures apply during war, requiring warrants to
search an American residence or business or seize communications except
for the first 15 days after a declaration of war. This allows the
president to claim FISA does not apply during wartime. The House
version of the bill authorizes warrantless physical and electronic
searches for extended periods after “an armed attack against the
territory of the United States.” Keep in mind that the regime says this
“war against terrorism” will last generations.
Recognizes inherent, exclusive power for the president to
unilaterally, secretly, and indefinitely wiretap anyone he designates
without any individualized judicial review. It would also expand
punishment for disclosing information about foreign intelligence
gathering, even if the intelligence gathering violated the law.
In short, what these bills would do is gut the fourth amendment
guarantee against unlawful searches and seizures and punish
whistleblowers. They would also result in granting immunity to private
companies that allow and have allowed such surveillance by the
government. Bush wants the TSA to be passed in the lame-duck session of
the current Congress. This is the same Congress that passed the
fascistic Military Commissions Act just before the elections so we
should not discount the possibility that Bush will get what he wants.
It is not yet clear what the Democratic response will be, but they
have not said “no.” After Bush announced that he wanted to see the TSA
enacted this year, Democratic Whip Richard Durban stated, “I can’t say
that we won’t do it, but there’s no guarantee that we’re going spend a
lot of time on controversial measures.” Senator Patrick Leahy, the
incoming Judiciary Committee Chair said, “We have been asked to make
sweeping and fundamental changes in law for reasons that we do not know
and in order to legalize secret, unlawful actions that the
administration has refused to fully divulge. If legislation is needed
for judicial review, then we should write that legislation together, in
a bipartisan and thoughtful way.” He went on to say that monitoring
communications of suspected terrorists is essential.
The Bush regime is attempting to get legislation that gives it
almost unlimited power to spy on “foreign” communications of all
types. In 1978 Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act which established a special court to review federal requests for
warrants for wiretapping. The FISA court has received more than 20,000
requests for warrants and has turned down fewer than a dozen in its 28
years of existence. But this power was not enough for the Bush
administration. The NSA spying program did away with the expectation
that intelligence agencies seek individual warrants to spy on
individual people who are suspected of a crime and Bush wishes to
legalize this permanently.
The regime wants the ability to scan calls and e-mail messages looking
for patterns that might connect individuals with a country or a group
that is suspected of involvement in terrorism. This scanning is the
legal equivalent of warrantless house-to-house searches for any
evidence that might lead law enforcement to suspect someone of a
connection to a crime.
The powers granted by this legislation, along with those under the
Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act, are nothing short of
dictatorial powers. The elections have not deterred the Bush regime
from its agenda. If anything they have made the regime speed up the
time table to strengthen the executive branch under Bush. Every minute
that we delay in driving out the Bush regime gives Bush and his fellow
fascists more time to consolidate power. The world can not wait while
they do so.