Jan 09 2006

Why FISA Doesn’t Matter

Published by at 11:18 am under All General Discussions,FISA-NSA

Some seriously cold water for the fanatics all upset Bush monitored enemy communications – even those (heaven forbid) with agents inside the US! This needs no translation by me. Just read it.

One response so far

One Response to “Why FISA Doesn’t Matter”

  1. clintsf says:
    January 9, 2006 at 10:36 pm

    Several good points in there, but the assertions about uncheckable Presidential authority seem substantially overstated.

    There is indeed a potential form of oversight that could have (and perhaps did) subpoena witnesses to discuss classified intelligence — a closed-door hearing by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (or the equivalent in the House).

    But then, of course, these Senators are exactly the people who were briefed, and made no attempt (except, possibly, illegally leaking it to the NYT) to oppose the program, say by issuing a (classified) finding that the program was illegal, or explicitly defunding the program in the (classified) NSA budget. Congress generally has the upper hand on these things — when a majority of the relevant legislators feel strongly about something. That they (apparently) didn’t act in this case really says all we need to know about the program.