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eavesdropping
Report: US Would Make Internet Wiretaps Easier
By not in system - AOL NewsWASHINGTON (Sept. 27) -- Broad new regulations being drafted by the Obama administration would make it easier for law enforcement and national security officials to eavesdrop on Internet and e-mail communications like social networking Web sites and BlackBerries, The New York Times reported Monday. The newspaper said the White House plans to submit a bill next year that would require all online services that enable communications to be technically equipped to comply with a wiretap order. That would include providers of encrypted e-mail, such as BlackBerry, networking sites like Facebook and ...
Intelligence Court Rules Bush Terrorist Surveillance Program is Legal
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyPresident George W. Bush has won a major victory for his legacy building efforts in his final days in office as a special intelligence appeals court has ruled that the Bush Administration's much derided Terrorist Surveillance Program is legal. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review made the ruling in late August, but it is only being made public now. Specifically, the court ruled that Congress acted within its authority in 2007 when it passed the Protect America Act, which codified the existing Bush Administration program with minor, cosmetic changes.The terrorist surveillance ...
Identity of NSA Terrorist Surveillance Program Leaker Revealed
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyIn December 2005, the New York Times published its famous expose on the NSA's terrorist surveillance program, which may have alerted targets under surveillance to alter their methods of communication, and became a major firestorm of controversy in the Bush Administration's second term. Mislabeling the program "domestic spying," the media and Democrats decried the existence of the program, accusing the White House of prying into the private lives of ordinary Americans. The Administration denounced the leak, but refuses to confirm details of the program even until today. A criminal investigation ...
Democrats to Introduce New FISA Bill
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyDemocratic leaders in the House of Representatives are set to introduce a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) today. The bill will be offered as a substitute to a Senate-passed extension of the Protect America Act, which included controversial provisions authorizing the Bush Administrations Terrorist Surveillance Program and granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that assisted the government in setting up the program after the September 11th attacks. Last month, House Democrats allowed the law to expire rather than bring the Senate bill up for ...
Top Democrat Says FISA Deal Near
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyThe Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), said on Sunday that a deal was in the works to pass a controversial extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, as early as this week. Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," Reyes said that the House is moving closer to approving a bipartisan Senate passed extension of the law, which contains immunity for telecommunications companies that have previously assisted the government in listening in on potential terrorists' communications.Democrat leaders in the House had been holding up the ...
Mukasey Pressures Congress to Renew FISA
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyAttorney General Michael Mukasey became the latest Bush Administration official to pressure Congress for an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, Friday, saying that Congress's failure to pass the bipartisan extension makes it harder "by the day" to track terrorists. Mukasey made his comments as Congress prepares to return to Washington from its President's Day recess. The issue will be high on the list of priorities in the coming week.The Senate, after much debate, passed an extension of FISA in the first week of February, leaving the House one week before a ...
Surveillance Bill Deadline Looms
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyThe Protect America Act, passed by Congress last August, temporarily extended the intelligence community's authority to conduct its terrorist surveillance program. The law is set to expire at midnight tonight unless Congress acts. The law has already been extended once, at the end of January for two weeks. But another temporary extension is off the table, thanks to procedural maneuvering by minority Republicans in the House.The bill is being held up over the issue of immunity for telecommunications companies believed to have assisted the government in setting up the surveillance in the days ...
Immunity Battle Looms in Senate
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyThe Senate is debating an extension to the Protect America Act, a law passed last summer that grants authority for intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on foreign communications without warrants. The law is set to expire on February 1. The Bush Administration wants a permanent extension of the law and wants it to include retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that may have cooperated with the government on wiretaps before the law was passed.In a speech yesterday to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, Vice-President Cheney said that immunity was a vital piece of the ...
FISA Court Refuses to Release Documents
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyIn a blow to civil liberties groups, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a secret court charged with reviewing and granting government applications for wiretap orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), ruled yesterday that the public had no right to view documents the court has generated in response to the Bush Administration's terrorist surveillance program. Judge John D. Bates was fairly dismissive of arguments made by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had asked in August for the release the government's legal briefs and the court's opinions in relation ...
Mukasey Sworn In; Starts Investigating
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyAttorney General Michael Mukasey was ceremonially sworn in today by Chief Justice John Roberts. The official oath taking took place shortly after Mukasey was confirmed by the Senate last Friday. Mukasey is the third Attorney General of the Bush presidency. At the ceremony, President Bush said that the new Attorney General, "...has my complete trust and confidence," and said that Mukasey, "...will bring clear purpose and resolve," to the Department of Justice. Mukasey wasted no time in taking the president up on his words of praise.Yesterday, Mukasey reversed course in the Justice Department ...
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