Key House Committee Passes Democratic Spying Law

The House Judiciary Committee swiftly approved a bill Wednesday to revamp the nation's wiretapping laws, just one day after the Democrats introduced a proposal that permanently allows the nation's spies to wiretap domestic telecom facilities but with more restrictions than a much-criticized temporary measure made law in August.

House Democrats moved quickly, moving the bill forward on a vote of 20 to 14, even as President Bush and Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell registered their displeasure with the bill. The bill would grant a secret spying court and Congress more oversight over wiretaps inside America that target foreigners whose communications traverse American soil because of old telecom rules and accidents of geography.

Those wiretaps were illegal under the long-standing 1978 FISA law, but the Bush administration circumvented that law post 9/11 by setting up a secret spying program. The Administration did not ask for such powers from Congress until after the program was exposed and did not win them until after a secret spying court struck down the government's spying program as illegal in the spring. Following that setback, the Administration pushed a compliant Congress to quickly pass a bill that gave the administration widespread authority to install wiretaps inside domestic telecom facilities. (italics indicate update)

Only three amendments were made to the bill. One clarifies that the administration can't use the bill's looser "basket warrants," intended to make it easier to snoop from inside the United States on people believed to be overseas, to find a way to actual target American citizens inside the U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D- New York) won approval of an amendment ordering the secret spy court to make sure the NSA complies with its orders, as opposed to simply authorizing the court to do so. A final amendment requires that the reports to Congress ordered by the bill also include information on what purposes other than gathering foreign intelligence the NSA has for spying.

The House Intelligence Committee is also expected to move on the bill quickly, making it possible for the full House to vote on a reconciled bill as soon as next week. That would then put the onus on the Senate to move quickly and sets the agenda for what the Senate might do.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D- Michigan) said the bill struck the right balance in his opening statement this morning:

Six years ago, the Administration unilaterally chose to engage in warrantless surveillance of American citizens without court review. That decision has – to be charitable – created a legal and political quagmire. Officials resigned, the program was riddled with errors, it was shut down for several weeks, officials rushed to the hospital to ask a sick man to reauthorize it over his deputy’s objections, and vital prosecutorial resources were diverted. Most importantly, our own citizens questioned whether their own government was operating within the confines of the law.

Two months ago, when that scheme appeared to be breaking down, the Administration forced Congress to accept an equally flawed statute. This new law gutted the power of the FISA court. It granted the Administration broad new powers to engage in warrantless searches within the U.S., including physical searches of our homes, computers, offices and medical records. The law contained no meaningful oversight whatsoever.

Importantly, the bill has no retroactive immunity for telecommunications carriers. Until we receive the underlying documents relating to their conduct from the Administration – and we have been waiting for more than nine months – we cannot even begin to consider this request.

To those who would claim that this bill is weak on terrorism, I would say that protecting the civil rights and liberties of Americans does not show our weakness, but our strength. What the terrorists fear most is our constitution and our values, and that is what this bill protects.

To those who say that the bill is too weak on civil liberties, I say that if you trust an independent court and have faith in congressional oversight, those liberties will not be jeopardized. That is the premise our democracy was founded on, and that is exactly what this bill does.

See Also:

• NSA's Lucky Break: How the U.S. Became Switchboard to the World
• Dems To Let NSA Spy in US, But Spooks Will Hate the Fine Print
• Telecoms Continue Push For Get-Out-of-Court Card for Illegal Spying
• US Warrantless Spying Program Targeted Americans, Which Violates ...
• Analysis: New Law Gives Government Six Months to Turn Internet and and Phone Systems into Permanent Spying Architecture

Photo: Spinachdip