By Kenneth J. Theisen, 1/19/07
On January 17, 2007 Attorney General Gonzales informed the Senate Judiciary
Committee that the Bush regime was dismantling the National Security Agency warrantless
surveillance program. But before you think that the regime has given up on
spying on us, the administration stated that it is being replaced with a new program
that will be overseen by the secret court that governs spying in the United States. Is
this the same tune, with a new title?
Gonzales informed the Senate Committee one day before he was scheduled to
testify of this “change.” On January
18th he appeared before the committee, and it is far from clear that the
warrantless spying program has really undergone any major alteration. His testimony left more confusion than
clarity about how the “new” program will work.
The only thing that is clear is that the government will still be spying
on us, but maybe this time the program will be “legal and acceptable.”
A little history is appropriate here. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act of 1978 (FISA) allows the NSA and the FBI to spy on “terror suspects” after
justifying their actions to a federal judge in secret hearings before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
But after 9/11 the Bush regime decided to bypass the FISA court. President Bush
in October 2001 secretly ordered the National Security Agency to monitor
telephone calls and e-mail between the United States and overseas if one
party to the communication was believed to be associated with
“terrorists”. This secret program was
disclosed in December 2005 by the New York Times. It was attacked by civil
liberties groups and by some in Congress who were not told of the program. The Bush regime claimed that the president
had inherent powers as the Commander-in-Chief to bypass the courts in order to
protect national security. Only a few members
of Congress were ever informed of the spy program before the story broke in the
Times. After the program was revealed a federal judge ruled the spy program was
unconstitutional.
There has been infighting in ruling circles about this program. But much of the opposition did not really
delve into the massive invasion of privacy that the program unleashed, but
rather into the legalities and the failure to formally notify Congress. Senator Leahy, the new chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee expressed this view, “The issue has never been whether
to monitor suspected terrorists but doing it legally and with proper checks and
balances to prevent abuses.”
But what has never been made clear to the public is how this surveillance
program really operates. If anyone
thinks that the government is only listening to Osama and a few close
associates, they are mistaken. This
operation is what is known as a “data mining” operation. The NSA has used broad
pattern analysis to monitor alleged terrorist communications and to identify
alleged terrorists. In theory a computer program sifts through large amounts of
information and extracts previously unknown information in order to track
“terrorism”. But theory and reality differ. Much of the information gathered is
perfectly innocent communication and massive amounts of data are collected. Even the FBI has reported that much of the
NSA information has led to dead-ends.
Another important fact for the public to know is that even if the FISA court
reviews each request for monitoring as required by the law, this is hardly any
real protection against privacy invasions.
The court is notorious for failing to actually deny warrants. Out of
18,761 warrant requests made to the court through the year of 2004, only 4 or 5
were denied. Can anyone spell rubber
stamp? The court is less a protector of
our privacy than a façade of legality for the government. But even this minimal
“protection” may not exist as we do not know if the court will do individual
reviews for warrants.
According to the Bush regime the “new” program will allegedly be overseen by
the secret FISA court. Previously, such spying was authorized by intelligence
officers without any judicial oversight.
This alleged reversal of course by the regime seems to be meant to derail complaints
about the spying by Congressional Democrats who have been threatening hearings,
as well as to upset legal challenges presently before federal courts. As soon
as Gonzales made his announcement, his Justice Department notified the Sixth
Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the “new” program.
When Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary committee he appeared to
believe he was in a boxing ring as he ducked and weaved to avoid giving any
clear answers to the questions asked about the “new” program. He claimed that giving details of the program
would expose sensitive national security information. He stated, “There is
going to be information about operational details about how we”re doing this
that we want to keep confidential.” In
other words, we are changing the program but we will not tell you how, but trust
us, it is legal.
To further muddy the water, President Bush said on the same day as the
Gonzales testimony that there was essentially “no change” in the program other
than to receive the FISA court’s blessing.
Gonzales was asked the following question by Senator Schumer: “I”d like to
know if there’s an intention to do this on an individual basis, or at least a
case-by-case basis where five, six, ten, twenty, one hundred individuals are
involved, or is it a broader brush than that.
Because if it’s a very broad brush approval and again, because it’s a
secret we have no way of knowing, it doesn’t do much good.”
Gonzales answered, “They meet the legal requirements under FISA.” Once
again, trust us.
The bottom line is that we do not know what this “new” program entails, nor
does Congress. It may be just as illegal as the prior program. Will the FISA
court just give broad approval to a new program or will it require the
government to seek individual warrants whenever it seeks to monitor someone? What oversight will actually take place or is
it just a “blessing” from the court as stated by the President. (In reviewing
the FISA law I was unable to find that word but then maybe the president was
confusing that with god’s blessing which he apparently thinks he has since god
called him to the presidency.)
The reality is that the past year of political maneuvers by the Bush
administration and by Congress have not changed the essential nature of the NSA
spying program. What they have done is
to make the program appear normal and acceptable. But this program is part of a larger
fascistic program of denying us our legal rights and preparing us to accept
greater control by this regime so that it can continue to carry out war,
torture, and all its other crimes throughout the world. We must resist this regime and drive it from
power. That is the only way to stop it spying programs and other illegal
actions.