Politics > Politics-USA > Where is the Outrage -- Republican Arlen Specter opposes NSA Warrantless Surveillance
| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"can_o_worms" |
| Date: |
28 Apr 2006 08:55:06 PM |
| Object: |
Where is the Outrage -- Republican Arlen Specter opposes NSA Warrantless Surveillance |
Specter Wants More Debate on Spying
Senator to Try to Block Program's Funding
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042700977_pf.html
This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)
By Walter Pincus and Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 28, 2006
New expressions of frustration over how little
information the administration has shared about the
National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping
on Americans flared yesterday in the Senate, one day
after House Republicans barred amendments that would
have expanded oversight of the controversial program.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)
said yesterday that he will file an amendment to
block the NSA program's funding -- but said he will
not seek a vote on it at this time -- in hope of
stirring greater debate on the warrantless
surveillance, part of the agency's monitoring of
alleged terrorists.
"Where is the outrage?" asked Specter, who has
chaired hearings that questioned the NSA program's
constitutionality.
Questions about the legality of the NSA program and
the Bush administration's refusal to brief the full
intelligence panel on it led Rep. Jane Harman
(Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence, for the first
time on Wednesday to vote against the annual
intelligence authorization bill, which passed the
House.
Harman, one of the few House members to receive
briefings on the NSA program, said she believes in
the program's approach but argued unsuccessfully on
the floor Wednesday for a measure requiring greater
congressional review.
"I do not support violating the law or the
Constitution," she said. "Enhanced security without
respect for law gives away the very values we are
fighting to defend, and I believe that the
program . . . can and must fully comply with the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and with our
Constitution."
The version of the fiscal 2007 Intelligence
Authorization bill that passed the House contained
no language on the NSA program. But lawmakers added
provisions that could have an impact on the
estimated $44 billion to be spent next year by the
16 agencies that make up the intelligence community,
as well as the operations of Director of National
Intelligence John D. Negroponte and his growing,
one-year-old organization. After the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, Congress created Negroponte's office to
oversee and improve coordination of the intelligence
agencies.
Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House
intelligence committee, said Wednesday that his
panel will be monitoring Negroponte's progress in
restructuring the intelligence community and that
"we would all like it to go faster because of the
significant threats that we face as a nation."
Although Hoekstra has been critical of the DNI in
the past, he said the office "is beginning to bear
fruit" and "incremental but real improvements have
been made since the standup."
Harman expressed a gloomier view. She said
Negroponte "has not taken command yet" of the
intelligence community, "giving away authority to
the Pentagon, which is happy to receive it, as it
expands its own role in intelligence gathering
abroad and here at home."
She added that "the CIA is in free fall," and that
"300 years of experience have either been pushed
out or left in frustration, and morale is
dangerously low."
The committee took a step toward reining in
Pentagon domestic intelligence activities. The
Defense Department inspector general was directed
to audit the activities of the Pentagon's newest
and fastest-growing intelligence agency, the
Counterintelligence Field Activity. Created four
years ago, CIFA has been increasing authority to
coordinate and direct intelligence collection
involved in protection of Defense Department
facilities at home and abroad.
An amendment by Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.) that
was approved goes after the increasing practice of
agencies, particularly at the Pentagon, to contract
out analysis and collection of intelligence.
CIFA officials, for example, have said they spend
70 percent of their budget -- the amount of which
is classified -- on contractors. Under Price's
amendment, the DNI would set regulations for the
hiring and training of contractors, and provide an
annual report of contracts above $1 million with a
description of the activities and whether they are
classified or unclassified programs.
Specter's concerns about the NSA program were also
reflected in much of the House debate on the
intelligence bill.
Harman and other Democrats were angry that
Republicans on the House Rules Committee prevented
a bipartisan amendment that would have required
classified briefings on the NSA surveillance
program, which includes listening to U.S. citizens,
to all members of the House Intelligence and
Judiciary committees. That proposal is similar to
the one that Specter said he may soon introduce,
although he would also include the parallel Senate
panels.
At present, lawmakers on a limited number of House
and Senate intelligence committees are briefed on
the NSA program along with top leaders of the House
and Senate.
At the White House yesterday, spokeswoman Dana
Perino said: "The appropriate members of Congress
have been and continue to be informed with respect
to the terrorist surveillance program."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042700977_pf.html
This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)
--
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
John J. Mearsheimer
University of Chicago - Department of Political Science
Stephen M. Walt
Harvard University - John F. Kennedy School of Government
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011
( has polemical response from Alan Dershowitz at site )
Edited non-PDF version :
http://www.lrb.co.uk./v28/n06/mear01_.html
.
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