WH Lawyers Slipped In 2 Provisions To Give Bush More Authority In New Spy Law

New Spy Law Broader Than Thought

By Robert Parry
August 13, 2007


Before the Democratic-controlled Congress caved in on George W. Bush’s warrantless-wiretapping powers, White House lawyers slipped in two provisions to give the President even more authority – and less accountability – than he claimed on his own. And the U.S. press corps largely missed that part of the story.


U.S. news reports mostly parroted the White House claim that the law “modernizes” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance of 1978 and “narrowly” targets overseas terror suspects who call or e-mail their contacts in the United States. But the “Protect America Act of 2007” actually casts the wiretapping net much wider.

The law applies not just to terror suspects abroad who might communicate with Americans at home, but to anyone who is “reasonably believed to be outside the United States” and who might possess “foreign intelligence information,” defined as anything that could be useful to U.S. foreign policy.

That means that almost any American engaged in international commerce or dealing with foreign issues – say, a businessman in touch with a foreign subsidiary or a U.S. reporter sending an overseas story back to his newspaper – is vulnerable to warrantless intercepts approved on the say-so of two Bush subordinates, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell.

Beyond the breathtaking scope of this new authority, the Bush administration also snuck in a clause that grants immunity from lawsuits to communications service providers that comply with spying directives from Gonzales and McConnell.

Before the “Protect America Act” won final approval from Congress on Aug. 4 and was signed into law by Bush on Aug. 5, one of the few safeguards against Bush’s warrantless wiretaps was the concern among service providers that they might be sued by customers for handing over constitutionally protected information without a warrant.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/081307.html

"I also want to remind Congress that our work on reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is not complete. When Congress returns in September, we need to work together on additional reforms, including the important issue of providing meaningful liability protection to those who are alleged to have assisted our Nation following the attacks of September 11, 2001."


http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Solly%20Mack/351

he means a get out of jail free pass, of course. fuck them

Not alleged to have done something wrong, ie illegal wiretapping, which I am denying, but "alleged to have assisted our Nation" -- as in, but I really don't think that they were assisting our Nation!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

This guy is dumb as a brick.

Sorry can't understand how the other party allows this to continue, even if Bush has the scoop on them. It's about the country, not them. Do they not understand the difference?

and the Congress bends over and spreads their cheeks for him. How is it that Pelosi missed it?

I just don't get it.

I don't think we, as a nation, can stand another 17 months of these monsters. Besides, just imagine in your darkest dreams what they still have time to do. :scared:

And somehow Nancy thinks everything will come out just fine.

She is FOOLING herself. What's it gonna take, Nancy?

:sarcasm:

Don't believe that there aren't people listening and watching them. This administration has many enemies, including those within the intelligence community & military. Cheney is the numero uno terror suspect in the world, IMO. The damn fools may have just signed their own death warrants -- this very well may come back to bite them more than anyone.

But this is what happens to the arrogant who believe themselves to be above the rest of us.

How do they even know the basics of these bills? Do they even get a short summary?

What the hell do all these Congressional staff members DO all day? Pick their noses?

From Fahrenheit 9/11. I believe he was talking about the original PATRIOT Act.

But that was HUGE. The FISA bill was rather simple, from what I read about it.

what the hell they actually do do to earn their $165,000 a year paycheck.:(

No surprise there.