This warrantless mass surveillance of people in the United States—often capturing information on millions of innocent Americans, with disproportionate impacts on communities of color—fuels resentment against the government from both ends of the ideological spectrum.
Archiv: Section 215 / Patriot Act
Consent-Manufacturing For Patriot Act II Continues
As we discussed previously, Biden has often boasted of being the original author of the Patriot Act years before it was rapidly rolled out amid the fear and blind obsequiousness of the aftermath of 9/11. Now in the aftermath of the Capitol riot we are seeing a push to roll out new authoritarian laws around terrorism, this time taking aim at “domestic terror”, which were also in preparation prior to the event used to manufacture support for them.
In a new article for Washington Monthly titled “It’s Time for a Domestic Terrorism Law“, Bill Scher argues against left-wing critics of the coming laws like Glenn Greenwald and Jacobin‘s Luke Savage saying such “knee-jerk reactions” against potential authoritarian abuses fail to address the growing problem. He opens with the acknowledgement that “Joe Biden’s transition team was already working on a domestic terrorism law before the insurrection,” and then he just keeps on writing as though that’s not weird or suspicious in any way.
Terrorgesetze die „eigentlich hätten geprüft werden müssen“ bis 2021 verlängert
(16.November 2015)
Am 5. November verlängerte der fast leere Bundestag das Artikel 10-Gesetz, das Bundesverfassungsschutzgesetz, das BND-Gesetz, das Bundeskriminalamtgesetz, das MAD-Gesetz, das Sicherheitsüberprüfungsgesetz und das Straßenverkehrsgesetz in seiner jetzigen Form bis zum Jahre 2021. Alle Gesetze wären sonst in ihrer jetzigen Form am 10. Januar 2016 ausgelaufen.
Keiner der wenigen anwesenden Abgeordneten erwähnte das tatsächliche Ausmaß dieses Vorgangs auch nur mit einem Wort.
Nötig für diese multiple Regeneration des geheimdienstlichen Komplexes, in seiner ganzen interaktiven Rückwirkung, Interaktion und wechselwirkenden Gesetzgebung, explizit mit der „Telekommunikations-Überwachungsverordnung“ (TKÜV) (wir berichteten), war die Verlängerung eines einzigen Gesetzes: des Ende 2006 beschlossenen „Terrorismusbekämpfungsergänzungsgesetzes“, Nachfolger des „Terrorismusbekämpfungsgesetzes“, welches das Parlament als Pendant zum „Patriot Act“ nach den gerichtlich nie untersuchten Attentaten vom 11. September 2001 in New York und Washington auf Vorschlag von S.P.D. und Bündnis 90/Die Grünen durchgewunkenen hatte.
Effektiv war dieser deutsche „Patriot Act“ aus 2001 bereits zweimal verlängert worden: Ende 2006 für fünf Jahre Jahre und Ende 2011 für 4 Jahre. Auch dieses Prinzip von Installation und Verlängerungen über mehrere Jahre folgte systemisch den Vorgaben aus dem geheimdienstlichen Komplex der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und seinem „Patriot Act“.
Here’s what’s happening: late last night @SpeakerPelosi attempted to ram through a reauthorization of #FISA and #PatriotAct surveillance authorities. But she had to cancel the vote at the last minute when it became clear she didn’t have even close to enough votes to pass it.
She’s trying to blame that on Trump tweeting about it, but the reality is that the vote was going to fail anyway because the entire Congressional Progressive Caucus (nearly 100 member of the House) came out against the bill after Pelosi let @RepAdamSchiff
gut a privacy amendment
Now @SpeakerPelosi
is trying to do an end-run around her own party and is going to attempt to sneak the reauthorization through by using an obscure congressional mechanism to reconcile a previous version of the bill the House passed with the version the Senate passed.
Thank you to our GREAT Republican Congressmen & Congresswomen on your incredibly important blockage last night of a FISA Bill that would just perpetuate the abuse that produced the Greatest Political Crime In the History of the U.S., the Russian Witch-Hunt. Fantastic Job!
The House just ditched a bill that would renew and expand the FBI’s surveillance powers after Trump threatened to veto it
The House of Representatives abandoned a plan to pass a reauthorization of the Patriot Act Thursday after President Donald Trump tweeted that he would veto the bill if it passes.
‚Just Let the Patriot Act Die You Cowards‘: House Lawmakers Urged to Vote Down Flawed Domestic Spy Bill
(27.05.2020)
As Common Dreams reported earlier, House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff was a target of specific ire for his role in sabotaging the amendment which sought to strengthen the bill’s privacy protections and judicial oversight. As Gizmodo’s Dell Cameron remarked after the day’s developments, „Although it’s really been something of a mass delusion for a while, the idea that Democrats are somehow better than Republicans on the Fourth Amendment is, as of this week, nothing short of a joke.“
The fact that the GOP-controlled Senate has managed to pass more progressive privacy reforms than the Democratic majority in the House, which has introduced precisely none, should not go unnoticed,“ Cameron added.
Trump tweet throws House vote on government surveillance powers into doubt
The request to shelve the vote was the latest hurdle for legislation reauthorizing authorities from the 2001 Patriot Act that’s been squeezed both by FISA opponents who have pushed for more civil liberties protections and by the President and his allies furious over the role of the FISA court in the Russia investigation and the misconduct with warrants obtained on former Trump adviser Carter Page.
„I hope all Republican House Members vote NO on FISA until such time as our Country is able to determine how and why the greatest political, criminal, and subversive scandal in USA history took place!“ Trump tweeted on Tuesday evening.
Handling of Flynn case should concern all Americans
Regardless of our political leanings, what happened to Michael Flynn should concern every American. While we should insist on details about his case, a more important question needs to be answered:
How many other people have been treated similarly by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies?
Former CBS Reporter One Of The First ‘To Identify Myself As A Target of Illegal Spying Under Obama Admin’
“I believe many, many others were spied on but do not know” said Attkisson. “It was only thanks to help from intelligence contacts that I even learned that government agents were spying me. Otherwise, I never suspected it or would have known.”
Intel & war hawks fight to keep mass surveillance of American citizens in place, and keep America in more wars in more places. Now they want to stop reforms from becoming law so they can preserve the broken status quo. We need @realDonaldTrump to support these reforms & more.
House to vote on reauthorizing expired surveillance powers
The House is expected to vote on a bill reauthorizing expired national security surveillance authorities on Wednesday afternoon in a vote by proxy, a controversial rule change which allows members to vote on behalf of their absent colleagues. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pull the bill reauthorizing authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, arguing that voting by proxy is unconstitutional.
This week: Surveillance fight sets early test for House’s proxy voting
The bill initially passed the House in a 278-136 vote in March. But the Senate amended the measure to add more legal protections for certain individuals targeted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The changes forces it to be bounced back to the House, which will need to pass it a second time.
Under a deal struck with leadership, the House is expected to consider an amendment, brought by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), that would block law enforcement from being able to access web browsing data without a warrant.
Coalition Letter to House Leadership Concerning Wyden-Daines Amendment to USA Freedom Reauthorization Act
Indeed, this would help address serious concerns among the public that civil liberties are at a heightened riskduring this time of crisis. This is an acute concern for the many groups that the FBI has wrongfully targeted in thepast, including activists, communities of color, and the press.With ample support for this measure secured in the Senate, the decision to seize this moment in defense ofAmericans’ civil liberties is exclusively in your hands.
NCAC Urges Speaker Pelosi to Support Critical Change to Patriot Act
NCAC has joined a coalition of more than 50 civil liberties, civil rights and government transparency organizations in urging Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress to include civil liberties reforms in the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020, a bill that would extend surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act which expired in March.
The coalition’s letter to Speaker Pelosi calls for support of the Wyden-Daines amendment to the bill, which prohibits the government from surveilling the internet search and browsing history of people in the United States without a warrant. The Patriot Act was never intended to allow the FBI to warrantlessly spy on our search and browsing history – and that is squarely the question before Speaker Pelosi.
This reform is designed to stave off the kind of scandals that led to a dramatic loss of trust in United States intelligence agencies over the past two decades.
Tell your House Representative to vote against letting the FBI access internet history without a warrant
The Patriot Act is up for renewal with the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act and this bill as-is allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) to access your internet history without a warrant. Under this new law, all the DOJ has to do is claim that an American citizen is tangentially related to an ongoing investigation and they’d be able to access your internet history that is stored with your internet service provider (ISP) – this gross privacy violating power must be stopped. The bill is currently in the House of Representatives and could be voted on as soon as next week.
The Senate voted to let the government keep surveilling your online life without a warrant
(14.05.2020)
Many senators wanted to forbid the government from secretly collecting information about your internet habits, but an amendment failed by just one vote.
Geheimdienste-Ausschuss-Vorsitzender: U.S.-Dienste sammelten „versehentlich Informationen über U.S. Bürger im Trump Team“
(23.03.2017)
Am 12. März äußerte sich dann jemand, der Ahnung hat: Rand Paul. In der „CBS“-Sendung „Face the Nation“ rückte Rand Paul, unter vielem Hin und Her und Ach und jaa-nee, endlich mit der Sprache heraus (Links wurden hinzugefügt):
„Der Weg wie es funktioniert ist – das F.I.S.A.-Gericht, mittels Section 702 (Anm.: vom Patriot Act), hört Ausländer ab und hört dann Amerikanern zu. Es ist eine Durchleuchtung von Amerikanern durch die Hintertür. Und weil sie so viele Daten haben, können sie abhören — tippen sie Donald Trump in ihre gewaltigen Ressourcen (Anm.: Datenbanken) über Leute ein, die sie in Übersee abhören, und sie kriegen alle seine Telefonanrufe.
Und so haben sie das mit Präsident Obama gemacht. Sie — eintausendzweihundertsiebenundzwanzig Mal haben sie Präsident Obamas Telefonanrufe belauscht. Dann maskieren sie ihn (Anm.: anonymisieren seine Daten). Aber hier ist das Problem. Und General Hayden hat dies am anderen Tag gesagt. Er sagte, sogar niedere Angestellte können den Anrufer demaskieren (Anm.: die Daten wieder einer bestimmten Person zuordnen). Das ist vermutlich dass, was Flynn passiert ist.
Sie zielen nicht auf Amerikaner. Sie zielen auf Ausländer. Aber sie tun das absichtlich, um an Amerikaner heran zu kommen.“
Making of a myth: Timeline of media’s role in selling ‚Trump-Russia collusion‘ tale
Nov. 18, 2016:
Trump announces Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his choice for National Security Adviser. Over the next few weeks, Flynn communicates with numerous international leaders.
Nov. 30 – Dec. 28, 2016:
Two dozen Obama administration officials make requests to unmask the name of National Security Adviser designee Flynn, who was „incidentally“ captured by intel surveillance. The officials include: U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and CIA Director John Brennan.
Jan. 5, 2017:
Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough requests Flynn unmasking.
Intelligence Community leadership, including FBI Director James Comey, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, CIA Director Brennan and Director of National Intelligence Clapper, provides classified briefing to President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and National Security Adviser Susan Rice on alleged Russia hacking during 2016 campaign, according to notes later written by Rice.
After briefing, according to Rice’s notes, President Obama convenes Oval Office meeting with her, Comey, Biden, and Yates. The „Steele dossier“ is reportedly discussed. Also reportedly discussed: Flynn’s intercepted talks with Russia’s ambassador.
Saagar Enjeti: BOMBSHELL reveals Biden at center of Obamagate, media ignores
Saagar blasts Joe Biden for being among the Obama administration officials who „unmasked“ former national security adviser Michael Flynn, despite his wavering stance on involvement in the prosecution.
Sen. @RandPaul : „The PATRIOT Act in the end is not patriotic.“
The Senate voted to let the government keep surveilling your online life without a warrant
The measure needed 60 votes to pass. It got 59.
The outcome is especially frustrating since four senators didn’t vote on the amendment at all, and at least one would have voted yes. Lamar Alexander couldn’t vote because he’s quarantined. Two others — Ben Sasse and Bernie Sanders — didn’t respond to request for comment on where they were during the vote. An aide told Politico that Patty Murray would have voted yes had she been there, but the senator was not in Washington, DC, when the vote occurred.
Rand Paul on Flynn unmasking: Biden committed ‚devastating abuse of power‘
‚It amounts to illegally eavesdropping for political purposes‘ says Rand Paul discussing new information that Obama officials unmasked Michael Flynn
Rand Paul: „Vice President Biden Is Guilty Of Using Government To Go After A Political Opponent“
Sen. Rand Paul called for acting Director of National Intelligence Rick Grenell to testify about a list of Obama administration officials, including Obama and Biden, involved in the „unmasking“ of then-incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s communications after the 2016 election.
Speaking to members of the press, Paul also said he wanted testimony from the officials on the list, including James Comey and James Clapper.
‘He knew everything’: Trump demands that Obama testify in Flynn case
“Here is the concern: If you don’t have a national security reason, you’re basically spying on a political opponent,” the South Carolina Republican said on the news show.
“What is the national security reason to unmask Gen. Flynn in transition? I can’t think of one. But, I do believe, given their behavior, they’re looking to get rid of Flynn and if they used our intelligence apparatus to basically act on a political vendetta, that’s chilling to every American and would be very wrong.”
More Than a Dozen Obama Officials Requested ‘Unmasking’ That Identified Michael Flynn in Intelligence Reports
The list includes then-Vice President Joe Biden and former CIA Director John Brennan; the requests came after Russian interference in U.S. election.
Unmasking’ requests number in thousands across administrations, as pols demand details
The numbers reflect how frequently national security and intelligence officials use this tool in their work. Unmasking occurs after U.S. citizens‘ conversations are incidentally picked up in conversations with foreign officials who are being monitored by the intelligence community. The U.S. citizens‘ identities are supposed to be protected if their participation is incidental and no wrongdoing is suspected. However, officials can determine the U.S. citizens‘ names through a process that is supposed to safeguard their rights. In the typical process, when officials are requesting the unmasking of an American, they do not necessarily know the identity of the person in advance.
Saagar Enjeti: Obamagate is real and the media can’t just ignore it
Saagar Enjeti blasts former President Obama after it was revealed in transcripts he was the person who told then-deputy attorney general Sally Yates about Mike Flynn’s intercepted phone call with the Russian ambassador, Joe Biden responds to Flynn claims on Good Morning America.
Grenell declassifies names of Obama officials who ‘unmasked’ Flynn
Another source familiar with the intelligence told Fox News that Grenell is moving to declassify several pieces of intelligence in stages, with this being one part of it. Asked if former President Barack Obama’s name is on the list of officials involving in unmasking Flynn, the source would not say but stressed the list would make waves.
Intelligence Chief Declassifies Names of Obama Officials Who ‘Unmasked’ Flynn
President Trump’s top intelligence adviser has declassified and may release the names of Obama administration officials who requested the “unmasking” of former Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn, an action that identified him from intelligence reports following Mr. Trump’s election in 2016, a senior government official said.
Release of the list, which would be an unprecedented move, is likely to resurrect a partisan debate over an episode that had roiled the early days of Mr. Trump’s presidency …
Rand Paul, citing Flynn case, proposes FISA amendment to curb surveillance of Americans
Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday introduced an amendment to the House-passed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to protect Americans’ privacy, citing the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn as an example of “abuse” and saying it “should never be allowed to happen again.”
Paul, R-Ky., who is an outspoken advocate for privacy reforms, proposed an amendment to the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020 – which passed the House on a bipartisan basis earlier this year – to protect Americans’ privacy, ensure due process and “reassert the Fourth Amendment.”
Senate revives surveillance brawl
The Senate is set to revive a fight over a shadowy surveillance court, bringing to a head a months-long stalemate that resulted in the lapse of three intelligence programs.
The looming debate, which will pit some of President Trump’s biggest allies against one another, comes on the heels of growing questions about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court after the Justice Department inspector general found widespread errors as part of an interim report on warrant applications.
McConnell urges Senate to reject changes to House-passed surveillance bill
(07.05.2020)
Under a deal struck by Senate leadership, senators will vote on three amendments: One from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) preventing FISA warrants from being used against Americans, one from Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on appointing outside advisers, and one from Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to prevent law enforcement from obtaining internet browsing and search history without a warrant.
FISA Surveillance and Possible Reforms Are Back on the Senate’s Agenda
(07.05.2020)
Next week the Senate is poised to resurrect some federal surveillance powers that expired in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. A handful of senators are hoping to force through reforms to better protect Americans‘ privacy.
FBI director in ‚hot seat‘ as GOP demands reforms
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Judiciary Committee with oversight of the FBI, noted that “we’ve got a problem at the FBI.”
“Clearly, we had some people, and maybe still have some people, that don’t understand the rule of law, and nothing’s been done,“ Kennedy said.
This Absolute Bullshit Would Not Be Possible Without Propaganda
Joe Biden has been a horrible, evil politician since long before his rape allegations went mainstream and his brain started turning to porridge. If people could gaze with fresh, unmanipulated eyes upon someone who’s dedicated his entire political career to neoliberal exploitation at home and neoconservative mass murder abroad, someone who openly boasts about authoring the foundational documents of the USA PATRIOT Act, someone who promises rich donors that “nothing fundamentally will change” if he’s elected and who they know from experience can be taken at his word, it would never occur to them that this is someone who should be running for any elected office anywhere, let along within spitting distance of the most powerful one in the world.
It is only by the ability of the mass media to manufacture the illusion of normality that this bullshit has been made possible.
FBI Ignored Early Warnings that Debunked Anti-Trump Dossier was Russian Disinformation
WASHINGTON – The “central and essential” evidence used to justify invasive surveillance of an American citizen in the FBI’s probe into Russian interference was, itself, an example of Russian interference, according to once-secret footnotes declassified at the urging of two U.S. Senators. The footnotes, part of the Justice Department Inspector General’s postmortem of the FBI’s flawed operation to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page, were released just hours after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) renewed their push for transparency. The senators expect a fuller declassification in the coming days.
(…)
“It’s ironic that the Russian collusion narrative was fatally flawed because of Russian disinformation. These footnotes confirm that there was a direct Russian disinformation campaign in 2016, and there were ties between Russian intelligence and a presidential campaign – the Clinton campaign, not Trump’s.”
The IG report detailed how the FBI’s application for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on Page relied heavily on an unverified dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele on behalf of Fusion GPS, which was conducting opposition research for the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. According to Footnote 302, in October 2016, FBI investigators learned that one of Steele’s main sources was linked to the Russian Intelligence Service (RIS), and was rumored to be a former KGB/SVR officer. However, the FBI neglected to include this information in its application, which the FISA court approved that same month. Two months later, investigators learned that Glenn Simpson, the head of Fusion GPS, told a Justice Department attorney that he assessed the same source “was a RIS officer who was central in connecting Trump to Russia.” In January, the FISA warrant was renewed.
Russian Disinformation Fed the FBI’s Trump Investigation
(10.04.2020)
Declassified footnotes to a Justice Department inspector general report show that the Federal Bureau of Investigation team investigating members of the Trump campaign received classified reports in 2017 identifying key pieces of the Steele dossier as products of a Russian disinformation campaign. This might be only the tip of the iceberg because other recently declassified information demonstrates that even more disinformation may have been planted in Christopher Steele’s reporting.
Es sind natürlich die U.S.-Geheimdienste, die Trump erpressen (wollen)
(11. Januar 2017)
So etwas ist noch nie passiert. Die gesamte Situation ist präzedenzlos.
Das angeblich belastende Material, wie beschrieben angeblich von irgendeinem britischen Agenten, etc, ist bereits gestern auf Buzzfeed veröffentlicht worden. Es ist dermaßen ekelhaft, dass es einem die Schuhe auszieht. Und es wird mir schlecht, wenn ich sehe wie die Leute auf Twitter darauf reagieren. Offensichtlich wurde diese Fälschung, die als solche u.a. von Gateway Pundit und Wikileaks identifiziert wurde, nur mit einem Ziel entworfen: Trump anzuschießen und zwar so, dass er nie wieder aufsteht.
Trumps Reaktion ist, nun ja, fast etwas verwirrt. Im Laufe des heutigen Tages hielt er seine Pressekonferenz als gewählter Präsident ab. Allen Anwesenden war, nach meinem Eindruck, eine Art Schock über die Situation ins Gesicht geschrieben. Selbst der bemühte, ab und an aufbrandende Beifall änderte nichts an der gespenstischen Situation.
Während der Pressekonferenz übernahm Trump einerseits zum ersten Mal die Position der C.I.A. und äußerte hastig zwischen zwei Sätzen zur Frage, wer verantwortlich sei für den angeblichen Hack gegen die Parteizentrale der „Demokraten“ („Democratic National Committee“, D.N.C.),
„Ich glaube, es war Russland“ („I believe, it was Russia“)
Gegen Mittag hatte Trump andererseits zu dem veröffentlichten „belastenden Material“ getwittert:
„(Die) Geheimdienste hätten niemals erlauben sollen, dass diese Fake News an die Öffentlichkeit ´geleaked´ werden. Ein letzter Schuss gegen mich. Leben wir in Nazi-Deutschland?“
Oleg Deripaska Says He Hired Christopher Steele To Work On Research Project
(July 2, 2019)
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska said he previously employed Christopher Steele, the author of the Trump dossier.
Deripaska said he hired Steele through his attorneys in London to work on an unspecific legal proceeding.
Steele investigated the Trump campaign on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC.
Footnotes in watchdog report indicate FBI knew of risk of Russian disinformation in Steele dossier
(10.04.2020)
Footnote 350 in the IG report addresses the FBI’s knowledge of Russian contacts with Steele and the potential for disinformation. Steele had „frequent contacts with representatives for multiple Russian oligarchs, we identified reporting the Crossfire Hurricane team received from (redacted) indicating the potential for Russian disinformation influencing Steele’s election reporting.“
The footnote also indicates that warnings to the FBI’s Russia probe became more pronounced over time.
4 takeaways from the brutal new report on FBI surveillance
(31.03.2020)
The FBI’s surveillance of Americans including former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page isn’t exactly the issue du jour amid a global pandemic. But on Tuesday, a brutal inspector general’s report suggested that this will be something that the bureau and Congress will have to reckon with in the near future.
Glenn Greenwald warns government is expanding power amid coronavirus
Greenwald also noted that proponents of the Patriot Act in the wake of 9/11 had assured civil libertarians the law had a sunset provision. Yet, the law remains in effect nearly two decades later as a “permanent part of our political framework.”
“That is the great concern, how do you temporarily vest power in the hands of the state that might be necessary to preserve these liberties in the long term without simultaneously giving them those powers realistically even if you intend for it to be temporary in a way that becomes permanent?” he added.
COVID-19 and Economic Duress: A Pretext to Enhance Police State Powers? Suspension of Constitutional Rights During COVID-19?
Crises are times when ruling authorities convince people to sacrifice personal freedoms for greater security — not realizing that both will be lost.
Ruling authorities take advantage of times like now by instituting draconian policies they’re unable to introduce during normal times without risking mass rebellion.
We must have reform and stop abusing the rights of Americans.
I just left the floor where I spoke out against the Patriot Act/FISA Reauthorization. Video below:
(11.03.2020)
Paul, Lee urging Trump to kill House FISA deal
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are working to kill a House deal to reauthorize expiring intelligence programs and reform the surveillance court, throwing up an eleventh hour roadblock to the agreement.
September 30. 2004 Debate Transcript
(September 30, 2004)
KERRY: Thirty-five to forty countries in the world had a greater capability of making weapons at the moment the president invaded than Saddam Hussein. And while he’s been diverted, with 9 out of 10 active duty divisions of our Army, either going to Iraq, coming back from Iraq, or getting ready to go, North Korea’s gotten nuclear weapons and the world is more dangerous. Iran is moving toward nuclear weapons and the world is more dangerous. Darfur has a genocide.
The world is more dangerous. I’d have made a better choice.
LEHRER: New question. Two minutes, Senator Kerry. What is your position on the whole concept of preemptive war?
KERRY: The president always has the right, and always has had the right, for preemptive strike. That was a great doctrine throughout the Cold War. And it was always one of the things we argued about with respect to arms control.
George W. Bush and John Kerry 1st Presidential Debate 2004
The First Presidential Debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry on Thursday September 30th, 2004 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
I couldn’t agree more. Real reform or nothing this week.
The #deepstate spied on @realDonaldTrump . PATRIOT Act §215 makes it easier for the feds to spy on Americans. FISA should be used to stop foreign terrorists, not spy on U.S. citizens. Absent major FISA reform, we should let 215 expire this week! #Veto215
House leaders near deal to renew federal surveillance powers
House leaders are closing in on a bipartisan deal to renew a set of federal surveillance powers expiring this weekend, but no final agreement has been reached, according to lawmakers and aides of both parties.
Rand Paul looms as wild card in surveillance fight
Paul, a libertarian-minded Republican, is pushing for broader surveillance court reforms to be included as part of any bill that reauthorizes or extends the expiring provisions of the USA Freedom Act, a 2015 law that overhauled the country’s intelligence programs.
„The time is ripe now. It’s an inflection point. You’ve got Republicans coming around to this,“ Paul said.
The entire 2020 primary is about whether Democrats can come to grips with what a shitty President Obama was. The answer appears to be no they cannot.
Surveillance deal elusive as deadline looms
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she is pushing for a reauthorization, not just an extension, of the three expiring provisions that deal with roving wiretaps, lone wolf surveillance and a controversial records program that allows the government to request phone metadata.
“We have to have a reauthorization,” Pelosi told reporters.
Fix the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and Punish the Crooks Who Abused It
Horowitz discovered premeditated fraud on the FISC by a DOJ attorney. In 2016, the attorney „altered“ email from „the other U.S. government agency“ (CIA) and submitted a fraudulent application for a warrant to the court. So the FISC approved the warrant.
The target: Carter Page, a Naval Academy graduate and a former Trump presidential campaign associate. Spying on Page — an innocent man — opened a door to spying on President Donald Trump.
Surveillance court judge bars some DOJ and FBI officials from warrant process
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, the presiding judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), issued an order Wednesday setting out an additional framework for the Justice Department and FBI to follow in future FISA proceedings. The order specifies that „no DOJ or FBI personnel under disciplinary or criminal review relating to their work on FISA applications shall participate in drafting, verifying, verifying, reviewing or submitting such applications to the court.“
Reform Our Surveillance Laws
Donald Trump must do right by Carter Page and all Americans by telling Congress to reform our surveillance laws to better protect civil liberties.
ACLU, FreedomWorks urge Trump to reform ‚rogue FBI‘ as part of intel bill
The ad will air through Friday and is part of a six-figure, multistate TV and digital ad campaign to urge Trump and Congress to enact broader surveillance reforms.
Congress has until March 15 to reauthorize, reform or end three expiring provisions of the USA Freedom Act, a 2015 law that overhauled the post-9/11 Patriot Act.
Trump upends controversial surveillance fight
Trump’s apparent support for including broader changes to the surveillance court associated with FISA comes as he’s railed repeatedly about his campaign being “spied” upon by the Obama-era FBI.
Progressives and libertarian-minded Republicans have long pushed to reform the court, arguing enough privacy protections and transparency aren’t given to individuals targeted for government surveillance.
Domestic phone surveillance program from the Patriot Act may finally see the grave
The Patriot Act was passed in the protectionist aftermath of 9/11, where the government decided to spy on its own citizens phone records under the guise of protecting against terrorism. When the Patriot Act was set to expire in 2015, Congress passed the USA Freedom Act which restored but barely modified several key surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act. Now that the USA Freedom Act is up for renewal, and data on just how ineffective the mass surveillance programs were in the first place, Congress may finally decide to end this heinous surveillance program.
N.S.A. Phone Program Cost $100 Million, but Produced Only Two Unique Leads
(25.02.2020)
The information surfaced as Congress was weighing whether to allow the law that authorizes the agency to operate the system — the USA Freedom Act of 2015 — to expire on March 15, or whether to accede to the Trump administration’s request that lawmakers extend the statute, so the agency could choose to turn the system back on in the future.
The House Judiciary Committee will meet on Wednesday to consider a draft bill that would adjust surveillance law in several ways, including terminating the program’s authority
Bernie Sanders Is the Only Leading Presidential Candidate Publicly Opposing the Patriot Act
“I voted against the Patriot Act in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2015. I strongly oppose its reauthorization next month,” he tweeted on February 11. “I believe that in a democratic and constitutional form of government, we cannot sacrifice the civil liberties that make us a free country.”
Reform or Expire
Although the law has become synonymous with the NSA’s collection of call records, it actually has a much wider scope. In addition to authorizing ongoing collection of telephone records, Section 215’s “business records” authority allows the government to obtain a secret order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requiring third parties to hand over any records or other “tangible thing” if deemed “relevant” to an international terrorism, counterespionage, or foreign intelligence investigation.
Congress has the chance to reform the Patriot Act. They should take it.
(21.02.2020)
While not billed as emergency powers, it was clear to us that the raft of legislation that followed 9/11 was in response to an emergency. What we viewed as immediate measures to protect American lives became a permanent framework that has governed American counterterrorism and counterintelligence for decades.
In the years since we passed the Patriot Act, many of my former colleagues and I, while remaining firm on the need to protect national security, have become increasingly skeptical — even concerned — those powers have been abused and contain potential for even greater abuse.
Inside the fight over FBI surveillance powers
Why it matters: Key measures in FISA — including the business records provision, Section 215 — are set to expire on March 15.
Die wahre Bombe des Impeachment Hearings
Wer war Fiona Hills Boss? Der ehemalige nationale Sicherheitsberater John Bolton, der zweifellos ebenfalls der Ansicht war, dass der Präsident kein Recht hat, die US-Außenpolitik zu ändern. Bolton ist derjenige, der, als Trump sagte, dass US-Soldaten nach Hause kommen würden „erklärte“, dass das in Wirklichkeit bedeutete, dass die Soldaten dort bleiben würden.
219 Dems voted in favor of fully reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act enabling the federal government’s mass surveillance of citizens. Only 10 Repubs voted for it. The “squad” (AOC, Omar, Pressley, Tlaib) joined most Repubs in voting “no.” Gabbard didn’t vote.
(20.11.2019)
Wow. House Democrats are ignoring civil liberties & including a three month straight re-authorization of the PATRIOT Act (with zero reform) in the Continuing Resolution. Very cool way to resist Trump by ensuring he continues to have terrifying authoritarian surveillance powers.
Facebook taps lawyer who helped write Patriot Act as new general counsel
Facebook has tapped a top State Department lawyer who was credited with helping to write the controversial 2001 Patriot Act as its new general counsel, beefing up its legal team as the company faces increasing regulatory and political pressure in the U.S. and around the world.
Facebook announced in a press release on Monday that Jennifer Newstead, currently the legal adviser to the State Department, will be taking over for the departing Colin Stretch.
Afghanistan-Friedensgespräche offenbaren Debakel des „Kriegs gegen den Terror“
Was die Sachkosten betrifft, so hat der Afghanistan-Krieg nach vorsichtigen Schätzungen über eine Billion Dollar aus Ressourcen gestrichen, mit denen die lebenswichtigen sozialen Bedürfnisse der US-Bevölkerung gedeckt werden könnten: von Arbeitsplätzen und menschenwürdigem Lebensstandard bis hin zu Bildung und Gesundheitsversorgung.
Der mit der Invasion Afghanistans eingeleitete „Krieg gegen den Terror“ wurde als Vorwand für einen Frontalangriff auf die demokratischen Rechte benutzt, einschließlich der Verabschiedung des Patriot Act von 2001, der Verbreitung von ungehinderter Spionage, der „außerordentlichen Überstellungen“, der unbefristeten Inhaftierung, Folter und Militärgerichte, darunter die Foltergefängnisse von Guantánamo und der CIA, sowie der Militarisierung von Polizeibehörden und der Verfolgung von Muslimen und Einwanderern. Regierungen auf der ganzen Welt sind dem Beispiel der USA gefolgt; alle bereiten sich, wie Washington selbst, auf eine Konfrontation mit ihrem gefährlichsten Feind, der Arbeiterklasse, vor.