Bush wont reauthorize Domestic Spying / Warrantless Wiretaps

[motivez]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has decided not to renew a program of domestic spying on terrorism suspects, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Wednesday, ending an law-enforcement tactic criticized for infringing on civil liberties.

"The president has determined not to reauthorize the Terrorist Surveillance Program when the current authorization expires," Gonzales wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.

Bush has reauthorized the program every 45 days, and the current authorization is mid-cycle, a senior Justice Department official said. Gonzales said a recent secret-court approval allowed the government to act effectively without the program.
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The program, adopted after the September 11 attacks, allowed the government to eavesdrop on the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens without a warrant, if those wiretaps were made to track suspected al Qaeda operatives.

Critics have said the program violated the U.S. Constitution and a 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which made it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without the approval of the special surveillance court.

"Any electronic surveillance that was occurring as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program will now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court," Gonzales said.

Gonzales said a judge on the secret FISA court recently approved a government proposal allowing it to target communications into and out of the United States when probable cause exists that one person is a member of al Qaeda or an associated terrorist organization.

He reiterated the administration's position that the surveillance program has been legal, but said the government will now have the ability to act with sufficient "speed and agility."

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the new rules approved by the court addressed administration concerns.

"The president will not reauthorize the present program because the new rules will serve as guideposts," Snow said.

Gonzales' letter came the day before he was scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the Democrats now in power were expected to question him closely about the much-criticized program.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and the judiciary committee's chairman, said Bush's decision will provide efficient and meaningful court review.

"We must engage in all surveillance necessary to prevent acts of terrorism, but we can and should do so in ways that protect the basic rights of all Americans including the right to privacy," he said.

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and a judiciary committee member, said, "Why it took five years to go to even this secret court is beyond comprehension."

Last year a federal judge in Detroit ordered the Bush administration to stop the surveillance because it violates Americans' civil rights.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor said the program violated a constitutional check on the power of the presidency and said there "are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution."

The Bush administration has appealed the ruling to a federal appeals court, where the case is pending.

Gonzales said the administration began exploring options for seeking FISA court approval for the program in the spring of 2005, well before it was publicly disclosed at the end of that year, creating a firestorm of criticism.

He did not give details of the court's orders.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...1-ArticlePage2

This is great news, and I suspect it's because of all the legal challenges he's going to face from Democrats if he continued on this path.

There was also a story out that he's finally done what most of us wanted, allowed the FISA court to review the application for wiretaps, ensuring constitutional privacy protections for citizens.

[JaJae]

This is ridiculous. Bush for 5 years told us how important this was to have. And now he's just giving up on it. Makes you wonder how important it really was to him.

[DosEquis]

OK, so this is what i expect to see. I want Sean Hannity and those like him to come out and say that president bush is looking for us to be attacked again. He is obviously soft on terrorism for not reauthorizing this program. Clearly there will be damage done to our investigation process.

I agree with the president and not renewing this program, but i really disliked the idea in the first place.

[Pro Street]

by the way, all information found during the program is unavailable and considered classified.

To obtain any knowledge on the data collected, it needs to go through Foreign Intelligence, which means no.

[MKULTRA]

They do this anyways. The've been doing this since the early 90s(at least) and there is a documentary on Echelon where the commander of that program admits they randomly intercept, record, and screen domestic as well as foreign calls.

Here is the full download, for those that want to watch it

http://madcowpolitics.com/echelon.asf

Most Americans would be on board with all of this stuff providing it was done with some oversight. But what really concerns me are people they put as 'suspected terrorists' and these are people never convicted of a crime. And this pretty much excludes you from getting a decent apartment, job, passport, or plane ticket. So you're being punished for crimes you never committed and for reasons never explained.

[sj23]

Why did it take a Democratic majority for Bush to change his way of thinking and for Republican Congress members to go against him?

[MKULTRA]

Originally Posted by sj23

Why did it take a Democratic majority for Bush to change his way of thinking and for Republican Congress members to go against him?

No one has really gone against him. As I pointed out, this stuff is still being done and on a much more massive and invasive scales than the programs he's stopped. What you see today with the Democrats and Republicans is just good cop/bad cop. Both parties, especially the leadership in both parties, are controlled by the same interests.

[kinggovernor]

this is too bad

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by JaJae

This is ridiculous. Bush for 5 years told us how important this was to have. And now he's just giving up on it. Makes you wonder how important it really was to him.

Not important enough to get impeached or go to jail I imagine.

[Pro Street]

Originally Posted by JaJae

This is ridiculous. Bush for 5 years told us how important this was to have. And now he's just giving up on it. Makes you wonder how important it really was to him.

I'm thinking it had more to do with the fact it was unconstitutional and that Congress has begun to investigate it.