http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/fisa/ en-us Thu, 8 Oct 2009 17:37:01 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2357683/posts Nothing pisses off progressives more, than a perceived infringement on people's rights especially if it has the potential of saving thousands of lives. To those progressive the FISA bill (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) was the definition of evil. The bill prescribed prescribes for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers." This is the bill that was made famous because it allowed for "warrantless wiretaps" under certain conditions. Last summer, after much debate. FISA was renewed. The debate centered around a provision which granted immunity from prosecution for the... Heritage Center/The Lid http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2357683/posts#comment Thu, 8 Oct 2009 17:37:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352484/posts On Tuesday, Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Afghan immigrant who was a teenager in Queens during the Sept. 11 attacks, pleaded not guilty to federal terrorism conspiracy charges in New York. This is a scary story. Police stopped and searched Zazi's rented car on the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 10, as the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks loomed and President Obama was about to join world leaders at a U.N. confab. According to the U.S. attorney's office, Zazi flew to Pakistan in August 2008 to receive bombmaking instructions, returned to use the Internet and nine pages of handwritten bombmaking... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352484/posts#comment Thu, 1 Oct 2009 14:41:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2350253/posts Recently declassified documents obtained by Wired magazine reveal a massive Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data mining operation. It already possesses over 1.5 billion records from government and private-sector sources. That figure is expected by the FBI to balloon to over 6 billion within a few years. And it is not just terrorists they are after.  According to the documents, the National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) is being used to pursue multiple types of non-terrorism domestic investigations. It is also meant to be able to sort through the data — everything from health and travel records to credit card... JBS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2350253/posts#comment Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:08:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2340507/posts By Jeremy Pelofsky Jeremy Pelofsky – 2 hrs 8 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration has asked the U.S. Congress to extend three surveillance techniques for intelligence agencies tracking suspected militants that expire this year, according to a letter to lawmakers. Approved after the September 11 attacks in 2001 at the request of the Bush administration, techniques such as roving wiretaps and accessing all kinds of personal records drew criticism from civil liberties groups and some lawmakers who said they were unconstitutional and violated privacy rights... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2340507/posts#comment Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:33:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328531/posts Edward Moore Kennedy, whose memory was endlessly praised in the mainstream media over the weekend, conspired with our Cold War enemy, the Soviet Union, against the interests of the United States Government. The effort was to thwart the national security goals being championed by the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, as historian Paul Kengor reviews today on AT. What is not generally known is that Kennedy collaborated with the Soviets well before Reagan was elected, and had a direct hand in crafting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As a result of his efforts -- which appear in retrospect to have... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328531/posts#comment Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:42:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2302786/posts RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina father who led an unobtrusive rural life as a drywall contractor had militant roots dating back to 1980s Afghanistan and Pakistan and secretly led a U.S. group plotting international terrorism, federal prosecutors said. Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, was arrested Monday with his two sons and four other North Carolina men. Prosecutors accused them of military-style training at home and plotting "violent jihad" through a series of terror attacks abroad.... It is unclear when Boyd and his family returned to the U.S., but in March 2006, Boyd traveled to Gaza and attempted to introduce his... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2302786/posts#comment Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:26:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2293849/posts It was instantly clear after Sept. 11, 2001, that our security agencies knew little about al Qaeda's inner workings, could not detect its operatives' entry into the country, nor predict where it might strike next. Suppose an al Qaeda cell in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles was planning a second attack using small arms, conventional explosives or even biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies faced a near impossible task locating them. Now suppose the National Security Agency (NSA), which collects signals intelligence, threw up a virtual net to intercept all electronic communications leaving and... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2293849/posts#comment Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:42:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2290454/posts Report: Bush-era surveillance went beyond wiretaps A government report raises new questions about how the Bush White House kept key Justice officials in the dark about the post-Sept. 11 program. By Josh Meyer July 11, 2009 Reporting from Washington -- The Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 surveillance efforts went beyond the widely publicized warrantless wiretapping program, a government report disclosed Friday, encompassing additional secretive activities that created "unprecedented" spying powers. The report also raised new questions about how the Bush White House kept key Justice Department officials in the dark as it launched the surveillance program. In a move that it... la times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2290454/posts#comment Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:18:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2290018/posts The Bush administration authorized secret surveillance activities that still have not been made public, according to a new government report that questions the legal basis for the unprecedented anti-terrorism program. It's unclear how much valuable intelligence was yielded by the surveillance program started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the unclassified summary of reports by five inspectors general. The reports mandated by Congress last year were delivered to lawmakers Friday. President George W. Bush authorized other secret intelligence activities — which have yet to become public — even as he was launching the massive warrentless wiretapping program,... Associated Press (Obama) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2290018/posts#comment Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:18:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2290060/posts WASHINGTON – The Bush administration built an unprecedented surveillance operation to pull in mountains of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, a team of federal inspectors general reported Friday, questioning the legal basis for the effort but shielding almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal. The report, compiled by five inspectors general, refers to "unprecedented collection activities" by U.S. intelligence agencies under an executive order signed by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Just what those activities involved remains classified, but the IGs pointedly say that any continued use... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2290060/posts#comment Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:12:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289870/posts The Bush White House so strictly controlled access to its warrantless eavesdropping program that only three Justice Department lawyers were aware of the plan, which nearly ignited mass resignations and a constitutional crisis when a wider circle of administration officials began to question its legality, according to a watchdog report released today. The Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289870/posts#comment Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:55:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275830/posts (WSWS) -- Several current and former agents within the National Security Agency (NSA), speaking on condition of anonymity, have told the New York Times that the spy agency likely monitors millions of e-mail communications and telephone calls made by Americans. The new revelations follow the disclosure in April that the NSA’s monitoring of domestic e-mail traffic broke the law in 2008 and 2009. Last year, Congress passed legislation providing the NSA greater latitude to spy on the communications of Americans, so long as it resulted inadvertently from the agency’s efforts to spy on foreigners or those it “reasonably believed” to... Intelligence Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275830/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:25:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256523/posts San Francisco, CA (AP) -- A federal judge is threatening to severely sanction the Obama Administration for withholding a top secret document he ordered turned over to lawyers suing the government over its warrantless wiretapping program. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco has ordered Justice Department lawyers to court June 3 to tell him why he shouldn't award damages to the now-defunct Oregon arm of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation. AP via SFGate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256523/posts#comment Fri, 22 May 2009 20:01:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2233254/posts During his presidential campaign, a solemn pledge by Barack Obama that almost made me vote for him (but I'm pro-life, and he's a pro-choice extremist) was that his administration would be the most open and transparent in our history, in contrast to the deeply, darkly secret George W. Bush-Dick Cheney administration. But, as with some of his other broken promises to restore the Constitution, I increasingly have less hope for a reason to believe in the Obama presidency. For a glaring example, with regard to the pervasive secrecy of his predecessors, President Obama has stunningly not only continued to invoke... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2233254/posts#comment Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:07:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2230756/posts The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews. Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in "overcollection" of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional. The legal and operational problems surrounding the N.S.A.'s surveillance activities have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2230756/posts#comment Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:27:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2228387/posts It’s not just Paul Krugman anymore. A growing chorus on the legal left is cooling toward President Barack Obama as a result of recent actions by the Justice Department vigorously defending the Bush administration in what it termed the war on terror. “Obama Position on Illegal Spying: Worse Than Bush,” a large graphic declared over the weekend on the home page of a respected group advocating freedom on the Internet, Electronic Frontier Foundation. Obama has been pilloried by a liberal TV icon who was one of President George W. Bush’s most vociferous critics, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. “During his run for... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2228387/posts#comment Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:32:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226483/posts The Bush administration got excoriated by the Left for its expansive use of the state-secrets doctrine. Barack Obama and other Democratic presidential hopefuls pounded Bush for its use. In fact, that was one of the principal components of Hope and Change — a shift away from secrecy and back to the “rule of law,” although no one has shown how Bush actually broke any laws in the first place. Apparently, Obama agrees, and as Jake Tapper reports, has decided to expand the Bush practice on state secrets: Hot Air http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226483/posts#comment Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:59:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226380/posts On 'State Secrets,' Meet Barack W. Obama April 10, 2009 9:20 AM In February, President Obama's Justice Department quietly argued in a San Francisco court that it was maintaining the same position as President Bush's Justice Department on a case involving detainees trying to sue a private company for its role in their (allegedly) extraordinary renditions. The Obama administration pushed the status quo administration argument by invoking the "state secrets" argument, also a Bush-era fave. "It is the policy of this administration to invoke the state secrets privilege only when necessary and in the most appropriate cases," said DOJ spox... ABC News Blog Political Punch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226380/posts#comment Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:50:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2225535/posts I cannot stand Keith Olbermann. He’s a self-righteous putz that spews sanctimonious liberal garbage. Well, until now. As Olbermann points out, during Obama’s campaign he constantly spouted he was against wiretaps. For example, on election day last year, Obama slammed President Bush’s warrantless wiretap program while speaking at Dartmouth College in his last public appearance before the polls closed in New Hampshire. “For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and “wiretaps without warrants.” Fort Wayne News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2225535/posts#comment Thu, 9 Apr 2009 12:54:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2225145/posts Turley on MSNBC says Obama is trampling on US Civil Liberties by going further than Bush on wiretapping. You Tube http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2225145/posts#comment Wed, 8 Apr 2009 21:30:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2224492/posts April 7th, 2009 In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ's New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush's Commentary by Tim Jones We had hoped this would go differently. Friday evening, in a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA, EFF's litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of countless Americans, the Obama Administration's made two deeply troubling arguments. First, they argued, exactly as the Bush Administration did on countless occasions, that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue out of hand. They argue that simply allowing the case to continue "would cause exceptionally grave harm to... Electronic Fountier Foundation http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2224492/posts#comment Wed, 8 Apr 2009 01:01:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2202617/posts Excerpts: As you all know, Skyewriter recently wrote about the dangerous incitement to violence and direct threats at Free Republic. I also posted and directed you to Skywriter’s blog. Skyewriter and I were deluged with gun bloggers and other right wingnuts (and just nuts) who denied that this was a direct threat. ~~snip~~ One week after Skywriter posted and I directed those on my blog to the post, the Daily Kos posted on the same topic. They detailed a thread in which the wingnuts were ranting, no doubt with white froth at the mouth, about our duly elected President who... A libtard blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2202617/posts#comment Mon, 9 Mar 2009 17:16:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201238/posts The Obama Administration this week released its predecessor's post-9/11 legal memoranda in the name of "transparency," producing another round of feel-good Bush criticism. Anyone interested in President Obama's actual executive-power policies, however, should look at his position on warrantless wiretapping. Dick Cheney must be smiling. In a federal lawsuit, the Obama legal team is arguing that judges lack the authority to enforce their own rulings in classified matters of national security. The standoff concerns the Oregon chapter of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Saudi Arabian charity that was shut down in 2004 on evidence that it was financing al Qaeda.... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201238/posts#comment Sat, 7 Mar 2009 07:54:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2196285/posts The Obama DOJ's embrace of Bush's state secrets privilege in the Jeppesen (torture/rendition) case generated substantial outrage, and rightly so. But it's now safe to say that far worse is the Obama DOJ's conduct in the Al-Haramain case -- the only remaining case against the Government with any real chance of resulting in a judicial ruling on the legality of Bush's NSA warrantless eavesdropping program. Here's the first paragraph from the Wired report on Friday's appellate ruling, which refused the Obama DOJ's request to block a federal court from considering key evidence when deciding whether Bush broke the law in... Salon http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2196285/posts#comment Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:20:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165659/posts A special appeals court for the first time has upheld a Bush administration program of warrantless surveillance. In a ruling released Thursday, the court embraced the Protect America Act of 2007, which required telecommunications providers to assist the government for national security purposes in intercepting international phone calls and e-mails to and from points overseas. The decision, which involves the gathering of foreign intelligence, was made last August but only released Thursday after it had been edited to omit classified information. An unidentified telecommunications company had challenged the law. The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review said the time... ap http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165659/posts#comment Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:46:49 GMT