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Update on DHS’ efforts to increase use of military satellites to monitor Americans

 

On June 24th, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment that will bar funding for DHS’ plan to expand the use of military satellites and other technology to monitor Americans, at least until the Government Accountability Office completes a review of whether the proposal violates existing civil liberties and privacy laws.  The Center was asked to testify before Congress last September regarding civil liberties concerns about this recently revealed plan (for more information please read Lisa Graves’ September 2007 testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security).  Earlier this spring, DHS sent Congress its own assessment of the program’s impact on the rights of Americans, which the Center said  “give short shrift to legitimate, serious civil liberties and privacy concerns of turning these very intrusive technologies on the homeland and the people of the United States.” (Lisa Graves, as quoted in Congress Daily, “Using Space Satellites for Domestic Intelligence,” Chris Strohm, April 21, 2008).  The Center and its allies have noted that that “the Department of Homeland Security is inappropriately trying to expand the domestic use of this surveillance technology without critically needed checks to protect Americans’ constitutional rights and privacy interests.” (June 4th letter to Chairman Thompson and Chairwoman Harman)

 

 

 

The Protect America Act (PAA) pushed through Congress in August of 2007 expired on February 16.  Months later, the House and Senate continue to work on amendments to FISA, which, in spite of statements made by the White House and intelligence officials lamenting the loss of intelligence-gathering capabilities, remains in effect and allows the intelligence community to conduct lawful surveillance. 

 

On June 19, Representative Reyes introduced a new FISA bill, H.R. 6304, which, startlingly, the House passed the next day.  The Center strongly opposes this legislation, not only because it gives telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for their warrantless surveillance activities, but also because it  “fails to restore judicial safeguards for Americans’ privacy and invites future abuses by failing to give the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court the necessary authority to protect law-abiding Americans from being spied on by their government.” (June 25, 2008)

 

For a full explanation of our views, read our memorandum to Senators, urging them to vote “no” on H.R. 6304.

 

Also, please read our June 9th letter to members of Congress opposing Senator Bond’s FISA legislation, which was touted as a “compromise” between the previously passed House (H.R. 3773 substitute) and Senate (S. 2248) versions.

 

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On March 14, 2008, the House passed a new bill that incorporates parts from both the Senate’s FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (S. 2248) and the House’s RESTORE Act (H.R. 3773).  To read why the Center believes the new bill is better than both the Protect American Act and the bill passed by the Senate in February, please see our March 12th letter to Chairmen Conyers and Reyes.

 

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On February 12, 2008 the Senate passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2007, S. 2248, as reported by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).  In the process, they rejected several amendments that would have added more civil liberties protections to the bill, including the Feingold-Webb-Tester amendment, which was supported by the Center in a letter written to the Senate in January.

 

The Center and a coalition of other civil liberties organizations also sent a letter to the Senate in December of 2007 opposing the SSCI bill because it “unreasonably and unnecessarily authorizes broad surveillance of Americans’ international communications without meaningful Fourth Amendment protections.” 

 

For further explanation of the Center’s opposition to the Intelligence Committee bill please read our memorandum to interested persons (December 6, 2007) and a previous letter sent to Chairman Leahy and Senator Specter of the Senate Judiciary Committee (November 14, 2007).

 

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On November 15, 2007, the House passed a much better bill, H.R. 3773 or the RESTORE Act.

 

Please read the statement of Kate Martin and Lisa Graves: “The RESTORE Act is an Important but First Step toward Stopping Unconstitutional Surveillance.”

 

Also, please read Lisa Graves’ guest blog about the RESTORE Act on the American Constitution Society For Law and Policy Blog.

 

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For CNSS’ full analysis and information on the status of requested documents about surveillance of Americans please follow this link

 

 

 

On June 17, Kate Martin participated in an American Bar Association panel on the recent Supreme Court ruling on Boumediene v. Bush, which upheld that the long standing tradition of habeas corpus rights applies to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.  To hear a podcast of the panel, click here.

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Why is warrantless wiretapping both unconstitutional and unwise?  To find out, read Lisa Graves and Kate Rhudy “sound off” against the Protect America Act in the June issue of The National Voter.

 

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Hot off the press: The Center’s 2007 Annual Newsletter!

 

"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad."
James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, May 13, 1798

The Center for National Security Studies, a non-governmental advocacy and research organization, was founded in 1974 to work for control of the FBI and CIA and to prevent violations of civil liberties in the United States.

A central challenge for democratic societies is to maintain national security while enhancing individual freedoms. Defense of civil liberties and constitutional procedures in the face of claims of national security is a never-ending task that requires constant vigilance and public awareness. The Center for National Security Studies plays that role as the only institution devoted solely to this constitutional watchdog function. The Center works to develop a consensus on policies that facilitate the exercise of government responsibilities in ways that do not interfere with civil liberties and constitutional government.

The Center works to strengthen the public right of access to government information, combat excessive government secrecy, assure effective oversight of intelligence agencies, protect the right of political dissent, prevent illegal government surveillance, ensure congressional authority in war powers, and protect the free exchange of ideas and information across international borders.

Since 1993, the Center has also worked internationally to assist human rights organizations and government officials in establishing oversight and accountability of intelligence agencies in emerging democracies throughout the world.

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the
government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding."
Justice Louis Brandeis, 1928