Toast Your New Surveillance State Tomorrow

There is one day left before the Constitution is tossed out the window and President Nixon's refrain that "If the President does it, then it isn't illegal," is enshrined into law. Tomorrow the Senate will vote to cover up George Bush's illegal spying program, with a compromise that isn't a compromise, and grant immunity to both the telecom partners who aided in the crime and the Administration themselves, who will now be able to end their term with the peace of mind that the extent of their illegal spying on Americans will never see the light of day. This is a bipartisan effort, aided by a cynical Democratic leadership that is either implicated in the spying or willing to give their bretheren in the Establishment a break. Either way, the upshot is that core Constitutional liberties will be taken away tomorrow, and the rule of law will be reduced to nothing but a slogan.

The progressive movement and the new coalition that has built up around this and other issues of civil liberties won't win every one of these battles. We put up one hell of a fight, identified key allies and also those who side with the Establishment surveillance state, and we will move on from this stronger and more committed to making things right and holding those who betrayed their core responsibilities accountable. Glenn Greenwald has the seminal post up about where we stand. Accountability NOW Pac, which I have signed onto as a sponsoring blogger, put together a Washington Post ad just to let those scoundrels know what they'll be voting for tomorrow. In addition, there will be a money-bomb to raise funds for future efforts on August 8. You can pledge your donation at the Accountability NOW link.



I really don't have a whole lot to add to Greenwald's piece - he covers admirably the facts of how the Congress will, by this time tomorrow, have voted to immunize lawbreakers without even knowing the extent of the lawbreaking, and will have used fear, intimidation and lies to do it. He explains how this is a symptom of an unaccountable ruling class, and what we can do to fight back. I'll just add a few links of supporting material.

Here's Daniel Ellsberg, who knows a thing or two about illegal surveillance:


What Every American Needs to Know (and Do) About FISA Before Tuesday, July 8th from Tim Ferriss on Vimeo.

1. Why does the vote this Tuesday, July 8th matter to normal people who have nothing to hide?

Ordinary citizens who want to live in a democracy — including those with nothing to hide — should be concerned about the ability of the government to use private, sensitive personal information to blackmail, manipulate, and intimidate their representatives, journalists and their sources, potential whistleblowers, and activists or dissenters of any sort.

2. Couldn’t it be argued that this type of surveillance ability has prevented another 9/11 from happening? Isn’t it possible that this type of legislation has saved American lives?

The administration has claimed that is has, but without presenting a single piece of evidence that this is so, even in closed hearings to Senators with clearances on the Intelligence Committee. The FISA court has granted warrants in virtually every request that’s been made of it that has any color of helping national security. The administration’s decision to bypass that court, illegally, leads to a strong suspicion that they are abusing domestic spying, as some of their predecessors did, in ways that even the secret FISA court would never approve.

Here's Tim Lee explaining how telecom immunity is practically the least offensive aspect of this bill.

When it comes to judicial oversight of domestic-to-foreign calls, the legislation the House passed last month is an unambiguous victory for the White House and a defeat for civil libertarians. The legislation establishes a new procedure whereby the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence can sign off on "authorizations" of surveillance programs "targeting people reasonably believed to be located outside the United States." The government is required to submit a "certification" to the FISA court describing the surveillance plan and the "minimization" procedures that will be used to avoid intercepting too many communications of American citizens. However, the government is not required to "identify the specific facilities, places, premises, or property" at which the eavesdropping will occur. The specific eavesdropping targets will be at the NSA's discretion and unreviewed by a judge. Moreover, the judge's review of the government's "certification" is much more limited than the scrutiny now given to FISA applications. The judge is permitted only to confirm that the certification "contains all the required elements," that the targeting procedures are "reasonably designed" to target foreigners, and that minimization procedures have been established.

Crucially, there appears to be no limit to the breadth of "authorizations" the government might issue. So, for example, a single "authorization" might cover the interception of all international traffic passing through AT&T's San Francisco facility, with complex software algorithms deciding which communications are retained for the examination of human analysts. Without a list of specific targets, and without a background in computer programming, a judge is unlikely to be able to evaluate whether such software is properly "targeted" at foreigners.

(it's very hard to excerpt that piece because all of it is vital.)

And finally, here's Bradley Olson, a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, who notes that FISA is just one brick in the wall of a lawless surveillance state.

With Congress on the verge of outlining new parameters for National Security Agency eavesdropping between suspicious foreigners and Americans, lawmakers are leaving largely untouched a host of government programs that critics say involves far more domestic surveillance than the wiretaps they sought to remedy.

These programs - most of them highly classified - are run by an alphabet soup of federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They sift, store and analyze the communications, spending habits and travel patterns of U.S. citizens, searching for suspicious activity.

The surveillance includes data-mining programs that allow the NSA and the FBI to sift through large databanks of e-mails, phone calls and other communications, not for selective information, but in search of suspicious patterns.

Other information, like routine bank transactions, is kept in databases similarly monitored by the Central Intelligence Agency.

"There's virtually no branch of the U.S. government that isn't in some way involved in monitoring or surveillance," said Matthew Aid, an intelligence historian and fellow at the National Security Archives at The George Washington University. "We're operating in a brave new world."

We are well and truly screwed on tomorrow's vote. And as Olson notes, it's just part of a massive surveillance apparatus that has crept into our lives. But FISA is a rallying point. It wakes people up about the serious problem of unethical and criminal activity emanating from Washington. And it offers an opportunity to use this anger and frustration and energy toward political power. It's the only thing these guys will respond to, after all.

This fight is not over. Expect a lot more to come.