Obama threatens to veto greater intelligence oversight: Via Salon: Glenn Greenwald.

(updated below)

One of the principal weapons used by the Bush administration to engage in illegal surveillance activities -- from torture to warrantless eavesdropping -- was its refusal to brief the full Congressional Intelligence Committees about its activities.  Instead, at best, it would confine its briefings to the so-called "Gang of Eight" -- comprised of 8 top-ranking members of the House and Senate -- who were impeded by law and other constraints from taking any action even if they learned of blatantly criminal acts. 

This was a sham process:  it allowed the administration to claim that it "briefed" select Congressional leaders on illegal conduct, but did so in a way that ensured there could be no meaningful action or oversight, because those individuals were barred from taking notes or even consulting their staff and, worse, because the full Intelligence Committees were kept in the dark and thus could do nothing even in the face of clear abuses.  The process even allowed the members who were briefed to claim they were powerless to stop illegal programs.  That extremely restrictive process also ensures irresolvable disputes over what was actually said during those briefings, as illustrated by recent controversies over what Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats were told about Bush's torture and eavesdropping programs.  Here's how Richard Clarke explained it in July, 2009, on The Rachel Maddow Show: [ Read more ... ]

South Carolina Senate Should Reject Warrantless Search Bill Approved By House, Says ACLU South Carolina National Office: Via American Civil Liberties Union.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

The South Carolina House on Thursday approved on its third reading Senate bill 191, which authorizes warrantless searches of juveniles and adults on probation and parole. The ACLU South Carolina National Office urges the Senate to vote no on this bill when it takes it up next week.

"There is no evidence supporting the concept that we can reduce recidivism by expanding police power to conduct warrantless searches of people's cars and possessions," said Victoria Middleton, Executive Director of the ACLU SC National Office. "The proposed expansion of police power would, in essence, create a category of citizens with no right to privacy – all those who are on probation or parole."

This bill would undermine the goals of omnibus criminal justice legislation (S 1154) recently proposed by the South Carolina Sentencing Reform Commission. [ Read more ... ]

Congress Drops the Ball on Upgrading Patriot Protections: Via Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union.

We're sorry to say, but is anyone surprised that Congress has capitulated to post-underpants bomber fear-mongering and passed the three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act without so much as a debate?

Oh, you didn't hear about that?

Wednesday night, the Senate passed a straight one-year extension by voice vote, and last night, the House followed suit.

That’s right. No changes. Nothing. Nada. Zip, zilch, zero. (You get the picture.)

That leaves ordinary Americans like you and me without the civil liberties safeguards proposed by several bills last year. Both the House and Senate had bills that would have improved the Patriot Act. The Senate bill even had the support of the White House. But instead of passing the much-needed reforms, Congress: [ Read more ... ]

Lawmakers Punt Patriot Act to Obama: Via Threat Level.

The House and Senate are forwarding to President Barack Obama legislation reauthorizing three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act — despite heated debate among lawmakers the surveillance measure went too far.

The act, hastily adopted six weeks after the 2001 terror attacks, greatly expanded the government’s ability to spy on Americans in the name of national security. Three measures of the act were set to expire at the end of 2009, but lawmakers in December extended the deadline to the end of February in hopes of reaching a compromise.

But no deal was reached by the end of the new Feb. 28 deadline. Instead, both chambers ditched two competing measures and extended the Patriot Act for another year without any changes. The final package was sent to the president Thursday for his expected signature.

Lawmakers had taken the expiration as an opportunity to revisit a number of the act’s surveillance provisions, including elements of the Patriot Act that were not expiring. This included proposals to alter the standard by which so-called National Security Letters are issued. [ Read more ... ]

Democrats retreat on new privacy protections: Via The Washington Post .

Democrats have retreated from adding new privacy protections to the nation's primary counterterrorism law, stymied by Senate Republicans who argued the changes would weaken terror investigations.

The proposed protections were cast aside when Senate Democrats lacked the necessary 60-vote supermajority to pass them. Dashing the hopes of liberals, the Senate Wednesday night instead passed - by voice vote without debate - a one-year extension of key parts of the USA Patriot Act that would have expired on Sunday.

Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government's authority to spy on Americans and seize their records.

The House was prepared to approve the extension Thursday, dropping even more extensive privacy protections approved by the House Judiciary Committee. [ Read more ... ]

House Delays Patriot Act Spy Vote: Via Threat Level.

The House on Wednesday tabled for two months legislation reforming U.S. surveillance law, a move that delays a collision with a competing Senate version. [ Read more ... ]

Keeping Personal Data Private: Via Editorial NYTimes.com .

In 2006, a Veterans Affairs Department analyst lost a laptop and external drive with Social Security numbers and other personal data from more than 26 million veterans and active duty troops. There was a national call for a federal law to protect this sort of data — as there has been after other big data breaches — but nothing was done. Finally, a bill is moving in the Senate that would put more protections in place for personal data.

Computers hold an enormous amount of personal information about people. In the wrong hands, the data can be used to steal identities or drain bank accounts. There is a patchwork of laws that offers varying levels of protection to residents of most, but not all, states, but there is no overarching federal law.

Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat of Vermont, is sponsoring a bill, the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2009, [ Read more ... ]

Senate Panel: 80 Percent of Cyber Attacks Preventable: Via Threat Level.

If network administrators simply instituted proper configuration policies and conducted good network monitoring, about 80 percent of commonly known cyber attacks could be prevented, a Senate committee heard Tuesday.

The remark was made by Richard Schaeffer, the NSA’s Information Assurance Director, who added that simply adhering to already known best practices would sufficiently raise the security bar so that attackers would have to take more risks to breach a network, “thereby raising [their] risk of detection.”

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security heard from a number of experts offering commentary on how the government should best tackle securing government and private-sector critical infrastructure networks. [ Read more ... ]

Handy Chart Tracks Proposed Amendments to Patriot Act: Via Threat Level.

Confused by all the proposed changes to the Patriot Act ricocheting through the Capitol? The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has put together a handy chart comparing the current law with the various amendments in the House and Senate.

The chart compares proposed amendments (.pdf) to National Security Letters (NSLs) and the so-called “lone wolf” provisions of the Patriot Act. The proposals have only been passed by the judiciary committees, and face further amendments before they hit the full House and Senate for votes.

According to Gregory Nojeim, CDT’s director of project on freedom, security and technology, although neither of the current proposals goes far enough in fixing all of the problems that civil libertarians find in the Patriot Act, they do show improvements. [ Read more ... ]

National Data Breach Laws Move Through Senate: Via Threat Level.

A national data breach law got closer to passage this week.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two bills Thursday that address data security and breach notification, according to Government Information Security. The legislation was drafted in response to the plague of data thefts that have occurred over the last few years.

The Personal Data Privacy and Security Act would set standards for protecting sensitive personally identifying information and impose civil penalties for those caught violating them. [ Read more ... ]

House Patriot Act Bill Draws Broad Support On Account of National Security Letter Fix: Via CDT - PolicyBeta.

A coalition of 20 civil liberties organizations, including the Center for Democracy & Technology, released a letter today endorsing H.R. 3845, the USA Patriot Amendments Act. The bill was introduced by the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Subcommittee Chairs Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA). The Senate version of the legislation, the PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act, S. 1692, has not drawn a similar level of support in the civil liberties community, largely because of the different ways the bills deal with National Security Letters. CDT has prepared a chart that compares the two bills.

An NSL is a simple form document issued by the FBI and other intelligence agencies that requires Internet Service Providers, banks and other financial institutions, and credit agencies to turn over records about their customers. There is no judicial authorization; the letters are issued when the agency seeking the records decides that they are relevant to its own investigation. The letters are usually accompanied by a “gag” order that, with limited exceptions, bars anyone from disclosing that information was sought or obtained with an NSL. Two Inspector General reports have found widespread abuse and misuse of NSLs. [ Read more ... ]

'War on Terror' II: Via The Nation.

We know the rules by now, the strange conventions and stilted Kabuki scripts that govern our cartoon facsimile of a national security debate. The Obama administration makes vague, reassuring noises about constraining executive power and protecting civil liberties, but then merrily adopts whatever appalling policy George W. Bush put in place. Conservatives hit the panic button on the right-wing noise machine anyway, keeping the delicate ecosystem in balance by creating the false impression that something has changed. We've watched the formula play out with Guantánamo Bay, torture prosecutions and the invocation of "state secrets." We appear to be on the verge of doing the same with national security surveillance. [ Read more ... ]

Round-Up of Reactions to Yesterday's PATRIOT Vote: Via EFF.org Updates.

Yesterday, as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to recommend and send to the Senate floor a USA PATRIOT Act renewal bill lacking critical civil liberties reforms, EFF's reaction was much the same as Senator Feingold's, as he expressed in his post-vote blog post at Daily Kos.

Feingold, one of only three Democrats to vote against the bill and a sponsor of the PATRIOT reform bill the JUSTICE Act, was left scratching his head over how a Democratic super-majority with a Democratic Administration could so thoroughly fail at reforming the PATRIOT Act, a law long maligned by Democrats as an affront to civil liberties. He closed by posing a choice to his Democratic colleagues: "In the end...Democrats have to decide if they are going to stand up for the rights of the American people or allow the FBI to write our laws." [ Read more ... ]

Obama Sides with Republicans; PATRIOT Act Renewal Bill Passes Senate Judiciary Committee Minus Critical Civil Liberties Reforms: Via EFF.org Updates.

Well, it looks like most of the Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee weren't swayed by this morning's New York Times editorial, which cited this morning's Committee meeting to consider USA PATRIOT Act renewal as a "critical chance to add missing civil liberties and privacy protections, address known abuses and trim excesses that contribute nothing to making America safer." Instead, the Committee just passed a bill to renew all of the PATRIOT powers that were set to expire at the end of the year, with only a handful of the original reforms that were first proposed by Senators Feingold and Durbin's JUSTICE Act and Committee Chairman Leahy's original PATRIOT renewal bill.

Instead of adding more protections to the bill, as EFF and the Times have been urging (along with many other Americans who have been organizing Facebook and Twitter activism around PATRIOT reform), the Committee this morning voted to accept seven Republican amendments to the USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act to remove the few civil liberties protections left in the bill after it was already watered down at last Thursday's Committee meeting. Surprisingly and disappointingly, most of those amendments were recommended to their Republican sponsors by the Obama Administration. [ Read more ... ]

Senators Vote to Renew Patriot Act Spy Powers: Via Threat Level.

A deeply divided Senate committee on Thursday forwarded legislation to the full Senate that reauthorizes three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act hastily adopted in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks.

The measures greatly expanded the government’s ability to spy on Americans in the name of national security.

Thursday’s 11-8 vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee came as lawmakers struggled to beat a looming deadline. The three provisions expire at year’s end.

During more than two hours of sometimes heated debate among the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, some lawmakers accused one another of caving to intelligence officials who wanted to expand their powers while other senators said the renewal was necessary to protect against looming, and classified, terror threats. [ Read more ... ]

Salon Radio: Patriot Act and FISA reforms: Via Salon: Glenn Greenwald.

(updated below - Update II)

When Congress enacted the Patriot Act in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, it provided for a four-year expiration date for some of the more controversial provisions.  In 2005, when it was time for Congress to decide if those should be extended, the Bush administration insisted that none of those powers had been abused yet (like everything) they were critical to fighting Terrorism.  As a result, the Congress thus overwhelmingly voted to extend them for four more years, though this time they required the issuance of a report from the Inspector General of the Justice Depratment to determine if there had, in fact, been any abuses.  Unsurprisingly, the IG's Report that issued in 2007 and 2008 documented extreme abuse at the FBI with many of those powers.  Moreover, it was recently revealed that, far more often than not, federal law enforcement agencies use these powers (including the pernicious "sneak and peek" searches) in cases having nothing whatsoever to do with Terrorism. [ Read more ... ]

PATRIOT Debate Round-Up: Dems Press Obama for Reforms; Leahy Bill a Good Start But Doesn't Stack Up to Last Week's JUSTICE Bill: Via EFF.org Updates.

Following last week's introduction by Senators Feingold and Durbin of the JUSTICE Act bill, the debate over renewal and reform of the USA PATRIOT Act kicked into over-drive this week with a second bill introduced in the Senate and hearings in both the House and Senate. The week's events were foreshadowed by the New York Times' weekend headline, "Battle Looms Over the Patriot Act".

The fireworks started on Tuesday with a hearing in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, to consider whether the PATRIOT provisions set to expire at the end of the year should be renewed. Representative Nadler, chairman of the subcommittee and a key proponent of PATRIOT reform in the past, kicked off the hearing with a clear statement that Congress should not limit itself to considering the expiring PATRIOT provisions but instead should broadly consider reforms to the entire Act: [ Read more ... ]

Eyes on the Prize as the Patriot Debates Unfold: Via American Constitution Society.

Legislation to amend the USA PATRIOT Act, and to reauthorize three expiring provisions of intelligence law that relate to it, was introduced in the Senate in the last few days. Both Senator Leahy's USA Patriot Act Sunset Extension Act, S. 1692 and Senator Feingold's JUSTICE Act, S. 1686, make improvements to protect civil liberties, with the JUSTICE Act taking a much bolder approach. It is easy to get lost in the tall grass of the Patriot Act, but here is what to keep in mind: reform of National Security Letter (NSL) authority should take center stage, even though the provisions do not sunset, because serious NSL abuses of have been documented by the DOJ's own Inspector General. [ Read more ... ]

Citing Privacy Concerns, Senate Seeks Legal Justifications for Govt. Cybersecurity Plan: Via Threat Level.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is demanding that the Obama administration supply it with the legal justifications it has produced for conducting government cybersecurity operations, or face losing funding for the projects, NextGov reports.

“During the next three years, the executive branch will begin new and unprecedented cybersecurity programs with new technology,” the senators write in a report (.pdf) released Wednesday, which accompanies the senate’s version of the FY2010 Intelligence Authorization Act, which will be voted on at an undetermined date.

These new technologies — which go beyond standard firewall and anti-virus protection products, the senators write in their report — pose new legal and “significant potential privacy implications,” which makes “congressional and Executive oversight particularly important.” [ Read more ... ]

ACLU Applauds Senate Scrutiny of Overbroad NSL Authority - Via American Civil Liberties Union:

Washington, DC – As an overbroad and often-abused power is examined today by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union urged members of the committee to thoroughly question its witnesses before marking up legislation aimed at fixing the problem. The "National Security Letter Reform Act" introduced by committee member Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), would narrow the scope of National Security Letters (NSLs) and curb abuse by federal law enforcement. NSLs are used to obtain access to personal customer records from Internet Service Providers, financial institutions and credit reporting agencies. Recipients of the NSLs are generally forbidden, or "gagged," from disclosing that they have received the letters.

"As we’ve seen, the broader the NSL statute is, the more likely it is to be abused," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Senator Feingold’s bill will narrow the reach of NSLs, preserve judicial oversight and put the burden on the government to prove that secrecy is needed before imposing draconian gag orders. [ Read more ... ]

Senate Votes to Prevent Genetic Discrimination in the Workplace - Via NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast | PBS:

As research of preventative genetic testing increases, many fear the impact this information can have on employment and health-insurance practices -- leading the Senate to vote Thursday to ban genetic-based discrimination. An expert on genetics examines the issue.

(Read Original Article - Via NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast | PBS.)

FISA News Roundup - Via EFF: Deep Links:

As the Senate prepares to vote on amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act this week -- including the crucial Dodd-Feingold amendment to strip telecom immunity from the bill -- the web is lighting up with news and analysis. A few highlights:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell sent a letter to Senate leaders reminding them (in case they have forgotten) that the President will veto any FISA bill that does not include immunity for telecoms like AT&T that cooperated in the NSA's domestic spying program. [ Read more ... ]

Senate To Revisit Spying Bill and Amendments Monday - Via Threat Level:

Senate leaders hammered out a compromise to allow votes on amendments to a bill giving the administration warrantless wiretapping powers inside the United States, setting the stage for the Senate to give the nation's telecoms amnesty for their participation in President Bush's secret warrantless spying program.

The Senate will hold majority votes on amendments that would strip the amnesty and increase court oversight over how the warrantless wiretapping programs handle communications involving Americans, while other amendments will have to get 60 votes to pass. [ Read more ... ]

Dems Defeat Republican Fast Tracking of Spying and Telco Immunity Bill - Via Threat Level:

Senate Democrats defeated Monday a Republican attempt to ram through a bill that expands the government's warrantless spying powers and give retroactive legal immunity to telecoms that aided the President's secret warrantless wiretapping program. The attempt by the Republicans to prohibit amendments to the bill and limit debate time failed to gather enough votes and failed with 48 yes votes and 45 against it. They needed 60 yes votes to limit the debate..

Senate Democrats want instead to pass a bill temporarily extending powers given to the nation's spies this summer, in order to have more time to debate and work out a compromise with the House, whose version does not include immunity. [ Read more ... ]

Sen. Rockefeller To Vote Against Forcing Vote on His Own Spying Bill - Via Threat Level:

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) says he will oppose a Republican motion to force a vote on a spying bill he co-wrote, saying that the move to ban amendments to the bill amounted to "political terrorism" by the White House.

"The White House has decided that scaring the American people with unfounded and manipulative claims is in order," Rockefeller charged in a speech on the Senate floor Monday.

Rockefeller announced his vote just an hour before a scheduled vote on a cloture motion which would also set a hard limit on how long the Senate could debate his Administration-backed bill, which provides immunity to telecoms that aided the government's five-year long warrantless wiretapping inside the United States and largely legalizes that program. [ Read more ... ]