Former FISA Chief Judge Bates Slams Key Proposed NSA Reforms As Unnecessary, Counterproductive
Source: Associated Press
By STEPHEN BRAUN and KIMBERLY DOZIER | ASSOCIATED PRESS | 1 hour, 1 minute ago
WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. judiciary told Congress Tuesday it opposes the idea of having an independent privacy advocate on the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, while members of Congress lauded the idea at a Capitol Hill hearing.
Speaking for the entire U.S. judiciary, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates sent a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee saying that appointing an independent advocate to the secret surveillance court is unnecessary and possibly counterproductive, and he slammed other key reforms as adding too heavy a caseload to the secret court's work. In current FISC hearings, judges only hear from the government seeking a spy warrant.
Members of the presidential task force that recommended such an advocate defended the proposal before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as did Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., during a hearing on the NSA's surveillance programs Tuesday.
Cass Sunstein, a member of the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, said the secret court should not be making decisions on law or policy without an opposition voice.
Read more: http://www.newser.com/article/4def9c059165492980a06b68caa75bba/former-fisa-chief-judge-bates-slams-key-proposed-nsa-reforms-as-unnecessary-counterproductive.html
grasswire
(50,130 posts)Pretty clear.
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)John Deacon Bates (born October 11, 1946), is a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in December 2001, and has adjudicated in several cases directly affecting the office of the President. On June 11, 2013, Chief Justice John Roberts named Bates to serve as Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, effective July 1, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Bates
Pholus
(4,062 posts)and that the gloves had come off.
Unsurprising.
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)His thoroughly compliant attitude was no doubt why he got put on the FISC court in the first place. Of course he thinks everything is just fine and dandy!
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)appoint them? The President? Congress? The SCOTUS?
The NSA isnt going to give up their power and no one can make them.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)It's so much more streamlined when everyone agrees to only see one side, isn't it?
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)It's chilling to hear Bates justify himself.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)another_liberal
(8,821 posts)You didn't say.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)tend to remain lost.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)I hope you say it in front of the mirror if you trust Cass Sunstein.
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)I repeat myself, because you did not answer my question.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)On my Constitutional rights? If so it will not work.
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)Now I understand your meaning perfectly.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)I know you LOVE all of this internet surveillance, which is why you like him, but I wouldn't trust him to shovel pig crap, much less protect the internet.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Oh right, because he was a secret judge on a secret court which issues secret rulings that have secret impacts on citizens.
So I guess it's all okay then.....
Aerows
(39,961 posts)about as far as I could throw the moon, and it won't be happening any time soon. He's the least trustworthy individual involved in this. He was the ringleader of NSA programs, StratFor, and bills to end open internet. He's a slime ball. Why Obama appointed him in his cabinet I'll never know, because he does not by any means engender trust.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)American Dreamer, 1984 (what a coincidence!)
TroglodyteScholar
(5,477 posts)This will never do.