NPR: FactWatch: Intelligence Surveillance

FactWatch: Intelligence Surveillance

From the speech:
"One of the most important tools we can give them is the ability to monitor terrorist communications. To protect America, we need to know who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they are planning. Last year, the Congress passed legislation to help us do that. Unfortunately, the Congress set the legislation to expire on Feb. 1. This means that if you do not act by Friday, our ability to track terrorist threats would be weakened and our citizens will be in greater danger. The Congress must ensure the flow of vital intelligence is not disrupted. The Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America. We have had ample time for debate. The time to act is now."

Analysis:
The Protect America Act, passed by Congress last August, expires on Feb. 1. That legislation expanded powers available to the administration under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, especially with respect to the monitoring of electronic communication (e-mails, for example) between suspected terrorists who are outside the United States but whose communications pass through switching networks in U.S. territory. Under existing legislation, the attorney general has to certify that the surveillance meets the legal conditions. Those certifications will not expire on Feb. 1. There will be no disruption of current monitoring. The wiretapping can continue regardless of what Congress does. It is true, however, that the executive branch will not be able to make new certifications and therefore open new surveillance cases.

- Tom Gjelten

9:54 PM ET | 01-28-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Perhaps we should let this law expire and return the review of government searches and seizures back to the branch of government that should be reviewing it, the Judiciary, lest we continue our slippery slope towards the communist/dictatorial governments of the world who regularly monitor communications of all their people.

Sent by Karl Miller | 10:04 PM ET | 01-28-2008

Do you have any idea *how* the government does this? I remember a report a few years ago of things like the "magic lantern" technology that the FBI used to monitor electronic communication, but it has been a while since I heard/read anything about the methods for gathering and parsing this information.

Sent by Ken | 10:08 PM ET | 01-28-2008

B. has threatened a veto if he does not get the Protect America Act exactly as he wants, including immunity for telecom firms who helped initially with the warrantless eavesdropping. If he vetoes the PAA without immunity for telecom firms, is he by his own words leaving Americans open to new terrorist threats? ("...our ability to track terrorist threats would be weakened and our citizens will be in greater danger.")

Sent by Vijay | 10:28 PM ET | 01-28-2008

The end of this fact check is somewhat misleading. While the administration will not be able to initiate new wiretaps by AG certification if this legislation expires, it is *not* true that the administration will not be able to "open new surveillance cases." They will be able to initiate new surveillance by the same means they did before this expansion was passed in August, by requesting a warrant from the secret FISA court, which reportedly *never* refused a request for a warrant under any previous administration. The Bush Administration is the only one that has found getting warrants "too cumbersome" to bother with.

Sent by Jim E-H | 10:46 AM ET | 01-29-2008

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