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ProSense

(116,464 posts)
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 02:38 PM Jun 2013

Senators: End Secret Law

Senators: End Secret Law

Bipartisan Group of Senators Introduce Bill to Declassify FISA Court Opinions

Washington, DC - Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), accompanied by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mark Begich (D-AK), Al Franken (D-MN), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), introduced a bill that would put an end to the “secret law” governing controversial government surveillance programs. This bill would require the Attorney General to declassify significant Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinions, allowing Americans to know how broad of a legal authority the government is claiming to spy on Americans under the PATRIOT Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“Americans deserve to know how much information about their private communications the government believes it’s allowed to take under the law,” Merkley said. “There is plenty of room to have this debate without compromising our surveillance sources or methods or tipping our hand to our enemies. We can’t have a serious debate about how much surveillance of Americans’ communications should be permitted without ending secret law.”

“This bipartisan amendment establishes a cautious and reasonable process for declassification consistent with the rule of law,” Lee said. “It will help ensure that the government makes sensitive decisions related to surveillance by applying legal standards that are known to the public. Particularly where our civil liberties are at stake, we must demand no less of our government.”

"For years, I have pressed for information about the business records program authorized by the PATRIOT Act to be declassified,” Leahy said. “I am proud to join in this bipartisan legislative effort to increase openness and transparency so that we can shed further light on the business records program authorized by this law."

“Of course, ensuring Americans’ safety is one of our government’s most important responsibilities, but there is a careful balance between protecting Americans and honoring the Fourth Amendment,” Heller said. “This legislation is a measured approach that will bring more transparency to the FISA court and respect the American people’s right to know how and when the government may be accessing their personal information.”

"I remain deeply concerned over the reports of the government obtaining millions of Americans phone records. I’m pleased to co-sponsor this bill because we need greater transparency and accountability in our government to prevent overreach and to protect against an invasion of Americans’ privacy,” Begich said. “In the coming weeks I will continue to push for a better balance between protecting our safety and protecting our Constitutional rights.”

“There needs to be a balance between Americans’ right to privacy and the government’s responsibility to keep Americans safe,” Franken said. “And ensuring that the court overseeing surveillance programs is as transparent as possible is a key step toward reaching that balance. This legislation will help make the process more open to the American people and to the people of Minnesota.”

“We must find the right balance between protecting our nation and protecting the civil liberties that make America the greatest country in the world,” Tester said. “This bill will help Congress do a better job securing that balance, while maintaining the rights guaranteed to all Americans in the Fourth Amendment.”

“It is impossible for the American people to have an informed public debate about laws that are interpreted, enforced, and adjudicated in complete secrecy,” Wyden said. "When talking about the laws governing Intelligence operations, the process has little to no transparency. Declassifying FISA Court opinions in a form that does not put sources and methods at risk will give the American people insight into what government officials believe the law allows them to do.”

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) is a special U.S. federal court tasked with authorizing requests for surveillance both inside and outside the United States. Because of the sensitive nature of these requests, the FISC is a “secret court.” The FISC rulings, orders, and other deliberations are highly classified. The Court’s rulings can include substantive interpretations of the law that could be quite different from a plain reading of the law passed by Congress, and such interpretations determine the extent of the government’s surveillance authority. There is certainly information included in the Court’s orders and rulings that is necessarily classified, related to the sources and methods of collection used by intelligence agencies. However, the substantive legal interpretations of what the FISC says the law means should be made public.

This legislation would accommodate national security concerns. If the Attorney General determines that a Court opinion cannot be declassified without undermining national security interests, then the Attorney General can declassify a summary of the opinion. If the Attorney General determines that even a summary of an opinion would undermine national security, the Attorney General is required to provide a report to Congress describing the process to be implemented to declassify FISA Court opinions including an estimate of the number of opinions that will be declassified and the number that are expected to be withheld because of national security concerns.

Last December, Senator Merkley offered this bill as an amendment to the reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The amendment would have covered declassification of rulings related to the provisions used to authorize the controversial Verizon telephone records metadata collection and the PRISM program collecting information from tech companies, both of which were disclosed last week. Thirty-seven senators supported the effort.

On Saturday, the New York Times editorial board endorsed the Senators’ efforts to declassify the opinions, saying, ”Congress should … require the court to be more public about its decisions.” The bill is also endorsed by the American Association of Law Libraries, The Constitution Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), CREDO Mobile and OpenTheGovernment.org.

http://www.merkley.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=5D5997D9-4BA1-46C3-BA86-D208EC82A31E
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Senators: End Secret Law (Original Post) ProSense Jun 2013 OP
Ahaa! RobertEarl Jun 2013 #1
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Jun 2013 #2
Good idea, but I doubt much will come of it. Laelth Jun 2013 #3
Yeah, ProSense Jun 2013 #6
I'm more concerned right now with what the President is going to say to the Europeans. Laelth Jun 2013 #8
Yeah, stay tuned. ProSense Jun 2013 #9
As I posted yesterday, this is a global issue. Laelth Jun 2013 #10
More like this, please, ProSense. sibelian Jun 2013 #4
k&r Puzzledtraveller Jun 2013 #5
Senator Durbin says "not a chance"... kentuck Jun 2013 #7
We'll see. n/t ProSense Jun 2013 #11
 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
1. Ahaa!
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 02:45 PM
Jun 2013

They heard us.

Cheers to all those standing tall and demanding the government quit spying on you!

To those who don't mind the government spying on you... please just can it.
The train has left the station, quit crying.

What we need now 100% support for our reps who are standing up for our rights. That is all.

Laelth

(32,017 posts)
3. Good idea, but I doubt much will come of it.
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 02:51 PM
Jun 2013

This is why:

When the Patriot Act, which authorized this type of surveillance, was up for reauthorization in 2006, 10 senators voted against it. This past December, an amendment that required the NSA to reveal the number of Americans surveilled was shot down by a 43 to 52 vote. Another amendment that would have applied more transparency to the program failed 37 to 54.

In 2009, meanwhile, Feingold and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced an amendment during the markup of the Patriot Act reauthorization that would have revised Section 215 of the law so that an "individual’s sensitive personal records can only be issued where there is at least some tangential connection to terrorism." That amendment was rejected as well.

On Thursday morning, Durbin was in a told-you-so type of mood. He said the breadth and depth of the NSA's surveillance that had been revealed by The Guardian was legal, and while the Senate could change the law, "it's not going to happen."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/verizon-phone-records-nsa_n_3397058.html


Our government has shown no real desire for increased transparency. Let us hope that is changing now.

-Laelth

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
6. Yeah,
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 03:28 PM
Jun 2013

"Good idea, but I doubt much will come of it."

...it would have been better timed with the reauthorization of the Patriot Act.

Laelth

(32,017 posts)
8. I'm more concerned right now with what the President is going to say to the Europeans.
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 03:35 PM
Jun 2013

He's heading to Europe next week, I think. On the agenda, long before the Snowden leak, was the issue of the NSA protecting the privacy rights of European companies and citizens who do business with American companies through American servers. For a couple of years, now, the Europeans have been complaining that if American companies are going to do business in Europe, said companies will have to follow European privacy protections in regards to European companies and citizens. The U.S. has stonewalled on this issue.

Now, it is coming to a head. I do not envy the President. I wonder what he's going to tell them.



-Laelth

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
9. Yeah, stay tuned.
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 04:37 PM
Jun 2013
He's heading to Europe next week, I think. On the agenda, long before the Snowden leak, was the issue of the NSA protecting the privacy rights of European companies and citizens who do business with American companies through American servers. For a couple of years, now, the Europeans have been complaining that if American companies are going to do business in Europe, said companies will have to follow European privacy protections in regards to European companies and citizens. The U.S. has stonewalled on this issue.

I actually think U.S. outrage wasn't the entire goal. This aspect of it, including Snowden fleeing the country, may increase the calls of treason.

Laelth

(32,017 posts)
10. As I posted yesterday, this is a global issue.
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 04:42 PM
Jun 2013

And I think the global implications are far more serious than the domestic ones.

Here, as you may recall: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022982695

-Laelth

kentuck

(111,079 posts)
7. Senator Durbin says "not a chance"...
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 03:29 PM
Jun 2013

It's not a serious proposal at this time, although I wish it were.

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