Christ, What an Asshole: Monday Edition
Published by BG on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 10:39 AM.Mike McConnell - A Law Terrorism Outran - washingtonpost.com
As director of national intelligence, I see every day the results of FISA-authorized activity and its contribution to our efforts to protect America. This surveillance saves lives -- the lives of our children and grandchildren. I also see the flaws inherent in the current law.
Because the law has not been changed to reflect technological advancements, we are missing potentially valuable intelligence needed to protect America.
Glenn Greenwald - The administration's FISA falsehoods continue unabated - Salon
In paragraph after paragraph, McConnell claims that FISA -- which was first enacted in 1978 but amended multiple times since then -- is an obsolete law because it was from an era where "the first cellular mobile phone system was still being tested" and "a personal computer's memory had just been expanded to 16 kilobytes." He then affirmatively (and falsely) states, several times, that FISA is unchanged since 1978 and thus does not recognize new communications technology such as e-mail and cell phones...
[snip]
In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration demanded a whole slew of changes to FISA which expanded the President's eavesdropping powers and which the administration claimed were necessary in order to bring FISA into the 21st Century by allowing surveillance of modern communication methods. Congress, needless to say, complied in full, and in October of 2001 -- contrary to McConnell's misleading Op-Ed -- it enacted, and the President signed, sweeping "modernizing" changes to FISA.
[snip]
That FISA was substantially expanded in October of 2001 -- at the administration's request -- is one of the central (and often overlooked) facts illustrating how severe is the corruption and dishonesty which lies (still) at the heart of the NSA lawbreaking scandal.
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