House Grants Green Light to Administration’s Wiretapping
Wiretapping
The Eagle-Tribune
Bryan McGonigle
Boston University Washington News Service
Sept. 28
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 – The House approved a bill Thursday that would allow the president to authorize domestic wiretapping for long periods of time without a warrant.
The Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act was passed with a 232 to 191 vote in favor. It passed along the party line, with just 13 Republicans opposing it and 17 Democrats in favor.
Supporters praised the bill as a necessary tool in the fight against terrorism.
“You can’t say that you’re serious about taking on the terrorists if you stand up here every day and vote ‘no,” Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. “To always have reasons why you can’t vote ‘yes’ I think speaks volumes when it comes to which party is better and more willing to take on the terrorists and defeat them.”
The Senate must pass its own version of the bill before the president can sign it into law.
The House bill would give the president new surveillance authority and would allow him to continue a controversial wiretapping program. Democrats argued that the bill gives the administration too much authority to conduct surveillance on innocent Americans.
“This bill unnecessarily expands the authority of the National Security Agency and permits warrentless surveillance of international communications of any American who communicates with someone outside the United States,” said Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., member of the House Select Intelligence Committee who voted against the bill.
The new bill would:
— Grant the administration authority to conduct surveillance of domestic calls by Americans and to enter their homes without search warrants after either and armed attack on the United States, a terrorist attack or an imminent threat. Opponents argue that the bill does not define any of these.
— Allow the administration to conduct non-wiretap surveillance such as reviewing phone records and other stored communications.
— Allow the attorney general to demand that communications providers, Internet companies, landlords and family members assist with investigations and provide personal records without court review.
— Terminate pending legal challenges to the National Security Agency surveillance program and shield relevant officials from liability related to surveillance.
“This bill essentially eliminates any checks and balances by the legislative and judiciary on executive power, and takes surveillance outside the 30-year old legal structure of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” Tierney said.
That law, passed in 1978, allows the president to authorize electronic surveillance without court approval to collect foreign intelligence but requires special FISA court approval before ordering such surveillance within the United States. Under the House’s bill, communications from U.S. citizens are no longer considered separate from those of foreign officials or spies.
“Our government must have strong powers, including the authorities to carry
out various forms of electronic surveillance,” Tierney said. “However, this bill gives the president carte blanche to intercept the communications of U.S. citizens without preserving the rights and liberties imbedded in our Constitution.”
Last December, in the wake of news reports, the president admitted that he had ordered a secret program in 2002 called the Terrorist Surveillance Program – authorizing the National Security Agency to monitor international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. residents and foreign tourists without warrants to catch possible terrorist links.
The administration has defended the surveillance program, citing a joint resolution enacted by Congress authorizing the use of military force after the Sept. 11 attacks and “use all necessary and appropriate force” against those he determines helped with the attacks in order to prevent future attacks.
The administration has also said that it cannot permit congressional oversight of the program because of security concerns.
On Aug. 17, after the ACLU filed a challenge to the surveillance program, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled that the program was unconstitutional and violated free speech and privacy. The Bush administration has appealed the ruling.
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