The Politik of Tork

Surveillance of Americans

Well if it isn't the Pentagon spying on Americans it's the NSA at the behest of the president. I am sure that most of you have already heard about these things given that this news is a few days old, but that's not going to keep me from giving my two cents on the subject.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, here is a link to the latest article on CNN regarding this situation.

I have a few problems with this as I am sure most Americans concerned about our civil liberties do, so let's go over them shall we. The following is taken from an entry in Wikipidea concerning the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.


The Act created the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and enabled it to oversee requests for surveillance warrants by federal police agencies (primarily the F.B.I.) against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the U.S. The court is located within Department of Justice.

Proceedings before the FISA court are ex parte and non-adversarial. The court hears evidence presented solely by the DOJ. There is no provision for a release of information regarding such hearings, or for the record of information actually collected.


It is beyond me how Bush can justify what he authorized when there is a court specifically set up to issue warrants for what he wanted the NSA to do. So, let's see. There is one law that he violated.

Here's a little snippet from over in China concerning the Patriot Act.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush on Monday criticized senators who have blocked the renewal of the Patriot Act, saying these senators should explain why the law "is no longer necessary."

Speaking at a news conference at the White House, Bush said the Patriot Act provided law enforcement and intelligence agencies key tools to prevent attacks in the United States and was a "vital tool in the war on terror."

The law "tore down the legal and bureaucratic wall that kept law enforcement and intelligence authorities from sharing vital information about terrorist threats. It allows federal investigators to pursue terrorists with tools already used against other types of criminals," he said.

One thing that the Patriot Act did was increase the size of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Let me ask, why was this needed in the first place when Bush was going to authorize surveillance without warrants? We all know Bush's disapproval of what he terms "activist judges". It seems to me that he has decided that it's better to circumvent the whole judicial system than to go the legal route.

Here is what the president believes lets him spy on American citizens without a warrant. It's the
Authorization for Use of Military Force. I must be missing something though, because the only thing that does is allow the president "to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001."

Question! Is the NSA a part of the military, and is the use of surveillance actual military force? I must be missing the connection somehow. Could it be possible that the president is actually smarter than me? Ok, I couldn't keep a straight face when I typed that one.

posted by Matt @ 12:32 PM