Jimmy Carter Assumed Same Spy Power As Bush

Sweetness & Light ^ | December 19, 2005 | N/A

[Sam Hill]

Almost immediately after the enactment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, President Jimmy "the Saint" Carter issued Executive Order #12139:

Foreign Intelligence Electronic Surveillance

By the authority vested in me as President by Sections 102 and 104 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802 and 1804), in order to provide as set forth in that Act for the authorization of electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1-101. Pursuant to Section 102(a)(1) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802(a)), the Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order, but only if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that Section.

1-102. Pursuant to Section 102(b) of the Foreign Intelligence Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802(b)), the Attorney General is authorized to approve applications to the court having jurisdiction under Section 103 of that Act to obtain orders for electronic surveillance for the purpose of obtaining foreign intelligence information.

1-103. Pursuant to Section 104(a)(7) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1804(a)(7)), the following officials, each of whom is employed in the area of national security or defense, is designated to make the certifications required by Section 104(a)(7) of the Act in support of applications to conduct electronic surveillance:
(a) Secretary of State.
(b) Secretary of Defense.
(c) Director of Central Intelligence.
(d) Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(e) Deputy Secretary of State.
(f) Deputy Secretary of Defense.
(g) Deputy Director of Central Intelligence.
None of the above officials, nor anyone officially acting in that capacity, may exercise the authority to make the above certifications, unless that official has been appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

1-104. [Deleted]

1-105. [Deleted]

[Secs. 1-104 and 1-105 amended Executive Order 12036 of Jan. 24, 1978, which was revoked by Executive Order 12333 of Dec. 4, 1981.]

Jimmy Carter
1978

Once more, with feeling:

[T]he Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order, but only if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that Section.

Again, none of this is news, except to the New York Times. And we all know why they are pretending it's new to them.

[Sam Hill]

"Now that the media has had a couple days to calm down and actually LOOK AT THE LAW, they are coming up with this BS about "certifications not met". Originally, they were saying that it was altogether illegal!"

You're exactly right.

If this was the problem, we would have heard about it via Gonzalez. But we didn't. Gonzalez is on board with Bush.

In fact the law allows the certificates to be ex post facto.

The whole gravitas was that the courts were ignored, and as you say, that has not been necessary since the changes in the law in 2001.

And as Jimmy showed, even before then.

[Sandy]

The intent of my comment was to point out why Carter's E.O. is irrelevant to the matter at hand. I have no idea what you're going on about.

[steveegg]

They are, and hypocrisy fits 'em to a tee. But the word, "hypocrisy," needs an "upgrade"--much the same as the word, "rascal" or "miscreant." We need a word with more political traction. A word that will stick, and also condemn the 'rats immediately. Suggestions?

HypocRATs?

[MEG33]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1543806/posts

Thank You for Wiretapping (WSJ Editorial - Nails It)
Opinion Journal ^

[Nam Vet]

Yeah, but Jimmah was only worried about aliens, not communists or terrorists.

Don't forget about the mad, (possibly alien), attack rabbit!

Nam Vet

[MEG33]

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007703
Thank You for Wiretapping
Why the Founders made presidents dominant on national security.
snip
The allegation of Presidential law-breaking rests solely on the fact that Mr. Bush authorized wiretaps without first getting the approval of the court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. But no Administration then or since has ever conceded that that Act trumped a President's power to make exceptions to FISA if national security required it. FISA established a process by which certain wiretaps in the context of the Cold War could be approved, not a limit on what wiretaps could ever be allowed.
The courts have been explicit on this point, most recently in In Re: Sealed Case, the 2002 opinion by the special panel of appellate judges established to hear FISA appeals. In its per curiam opinion, the court noted that in a previous FISA case (U.S. v. Truong), a federal "court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue [our emphasis], held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." And further that "we take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power."

snip

[MEG33]

http://realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-12_20_05_JKE.html
snip
Many of the taps were conducted without first obtaining warrants from the special court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act because there wasn't time to obtain them.

This was lawful, under both an exception in the FISA act, and in
Congress' authorization of the use of force after 9/11, and
congressional leaders were informed of the taps, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said Monday.

If Democrats think they can make political hay by expressing more concern for the "rights" of the enemy than for the safety of Americans, they're mistaken, said John McIntyre of RealClearPolitics: "Democrats have still not fully grasped that the public has profound and long standing concerns about their ability to defend the nation," he said.

Jack Kelly is national security columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Blade of Toledo, Ohio.

[expatguy]

We were all too busy waiting in lines to buy gasoline to remember.

[MEG33]

#126 and 127

[Sandy]

In fact the law allows the certificates to be ex post facto. The whole gravitas was that the courts were ignored, and as you say, that has not been necessary since the changes in the law in 2001.

What are you talking about? Section 1802, which authorizes the electronic surveillance without a court order if the AG makes the required certifications, is the same now as it was in 1978. It wasn't changed in 2001.

[MEG33]

#126

[Sam Hill]

You don't know what you are talking about and I doubt it's worth the time to try to explain it to you.

Read up on the subject.

[Beckwith]

This doesn't say that it was authorized to be done to U.S. citizens while they were in the country....

Are you sure that those monitored within the United States were citizens?

All we know is that there has been X number of taps. No one outside of the NSA and those in the loop know if they were taps on the conversations of American citizens or the conversations of aliens residing in the States.

Once again, the liberal/left Democrats (most of them) are arguing in the abstract and there is nothing abstract about the events of 9/11.

[Sam Hill]

Some apt excerpts from the WSJ piece:

The allegation of Presidential law-breaking rests solely on the fact that Mr. Bush authorized wiretaps without first getting the approval of the court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. But no Administration then or since has ever conceded that that Act trumped a President's power to make exceptions to FISA if national security required it. FISA established a process by which certain wiretaps in the context of the Cold War could be approved, not a limit on what wiretaps could ever be allowed.

The courts have been explicit on this point, most recently in In Re: Sealed Case, the 2002 opinion by the special panel of appellate judges established to hear FISA appeals. In its per curiam opinion, the court noted that in a previous FISA case (U.S. v. Truong), a federal "court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue [our emphasis], held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." And further that "we take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power."

[Beckwith]

Sulzberger is an enemy of the state and should be surveilled and brought up on charges of sedition

He's also a sword swallower.

[Sandy]

You don't know what you are talking about and I doubt it's worth the time to try to explain it to you.

You said that the law changed in 2001. Obviously you're not talking about section 1802, so what section are you talking about? That's all I'm asking. I don't need or want a long explanation.

[Sandy]

The allegation of Presidential law-breaking rests solely on the fact that Mr. Bush authorized wiretaps without first getting the approval of the court

That's not the least bit true. Lack of prior court approval is not what this "scandal" is about at all.

Snooping on communications of U.S. persons--*That's* what's supposedly illegal here.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for another great find. Please send your findings to the RNC.

The paradox of Jimmy Carter while he approved of spying on Americans, he was gutting the CIA of any remaining good people.

The Compost and Slimes got the names of real agents not the phoney Plames and would print their names and the embassy they were covertly assigned to. This placed these agents and their families in immediate and grave danger, and these disclosures probably led to the death of any contacts these agents had in the country where they were operating in.

Instead of screaming about the danger of the exposure of an agent, the Compost and Slimes just continued to post the names and countries of effective agents.

Then. Carter and his CIA henchmen filled the agency with their operatives, and many are still there or serve as so called consultants and are the real sources of so many leaks we read about and hear about in the MSM.

[Kimberly GG]

Listening to Fox this morning, and they reported that the top people over at NYTimes had a meeting with 'the WH' as late as Dec 9th over the release of this information. They were, once again, asked not to print, but waited, what, a week to do so. And, imo, perfectly timed with elections and patriot act.

[Puppage]

Actually, that's not a bad thought...

Well, he is still among the living. He's had several bouts with cancer, but he's still alive & kicking.