A letter to Congress about S2248, a bill to amend FISA

::::::::

12/20/2007

To: Senator Feinstein

      Senator Boxer

      Representative Susan Davis

CC: Senator Dodd

       Senator Reid

       Representative Nancy Pelosi

       Senator Snowe

       Senator Hagel

Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer and Representative Davis;

I am writing to you as your constituent and after spending the day watching speeches on CSPAN regarding S2248 (FISA, amendments). I am also writing after receiving Senator Feinstein’s email dated 12/18/2007 at the time of 5:22PM, which included “additional views” of Senator’s Snowe and Hagel.

I am copying Senator Reid and Representative Pelosi as they are the Congressional leaders of the respective houses and think they should be aware of my writing. And I’m copying Senator Dodd, as it was his willingness to put Constitutional principle above practical regarding his Presidential bid that ought be the byword for how members of Congress engage in politics.

There is a real need to mention certain points regarding this legislation and how it came about that do not pertain to the need to enhance surveillance regarding ‘terrorists’.

1. September 11th, 2001 did NOT occur because this legislation wasn’t in place; simply stated, it occurred because of the failure of the Bush Administration to act on warnings (especially those of foreign governments) and the lack of co-ordination between and within various ‘intelligence’ agencies.
2. To think that ‘terrorists’ are not aware of the technical prowess of the United States to monitor communications simply ignores reality. Do any of you remember the United Nations scandal where the United States was ousted for planting bugs and tapping phone lines in the offices of the United Nations? And that an official of one of the countries bugged indicated that ‘everyone assumes that communications are monitored and take the necessary steps to ensure private communications?”
3. The ‘Protect America Act’ was pushed through by the Bush Administration as part of its strategy to avoid culpability for knowingly violating the law and, as you know, is EXTREMELY flawed legislation. And EVERY time civil liberties are sacrificed on the altar of ‘security’, that is but another victory for terrorism.
4. ANY legislation that Bush doesn’t concur fully with gets a ‘signing statement’ that according to his legal advice allows him the discretion to do what he please regarding legislation he signs. And NO ONE in Congress has taken him to court to regarding such legal reasoning. Adding amendments to legislation is inviting the Bush Administration to interpret such legislation as he sees fit and the ‘exclusivity’ Senator Feinstein has introduced will simply be swept aside via ‘signing statement’.
5. It is now been reported that the Bush Administration started the processes by which all communications in the United States –regardless of status or citizenship- just two weeks after taking office in 2000. This ‘should’ tell you all you need to know of the real intent in pushing for legal immunity within the changes to the FISA.  How many times do you need to be lied to before you ‘get it’?    

 

Putting aside the specious reasoning that allowing citizen lawsuits to proceed would bankrupt the telecommunications companies and the rhetoric of fear and uncertainty that the Senators Hatch and McConnell put forth, I would like to mention Senator Bond’s citation of United States Code regarding a ‘person’ (though I believe his cite was mistaken).

Simply stated, the driver of a car used for a robbery is judged as guilty of the crime as the persons who actually engaged in the ‘holdup’. To say that the telecommunications companies should be immune from prosecution because Bush and his legal advisors asked them to is saying the getaway car driver should be immune from prosecution because the getaway car driver did not participate in the actual holdup. And I would also reference you to the Texas case where a death penalty was recently commuted to life for someone who happened to be driving a car that someone got out of and killed someone. These telecommunication companies have very skilled lawyers and, given the example of Qwest rejecting such ‘assistance’, knew that such actions were against the law (or should have, given their expertise). And I also will mention that it has been drummed into my head since I was much younger that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. Even the Unified Military Code of Justice has provisions within it for not following an unlawful order.

In Senator Feinstein’s email, the following is stated:

“Legislation amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and the Protect America Act that was passed in August of this year, will only succeed if it is bipartisan. In this area, it is our belief that any partisan bill will not pass.”

IF ‘bi-partisan’ means granting immunity to the telecommunications companies, then such is NOT ‘bi-partisan’ but strongly partisan in favor of corporate donors and a desire to avoid addressing the lawlessness that the Bush Administration has consistently engaged in.

“That outcome is likely to result in one of two unacceptable options:

A rushed process to extend the Protect America Act, which contains fewer statutory protections of privacy rights than the Committee's bill, or a lapse in legislation, which will prevent the Intelligence Community from conducting much-needed surveillance on non-United States citizens outside of the country. Clearly, passing meaningful reforms should be a top priority of the U.S. Congress.”

Again, I perceive this as flawed reasoning and refer you to the points –as well as Bush’s proclivity for ‘signing statements’- previously made regarding Sept 11, 2001 and whether terrorists are aware of the monitoring capability of the U.S.; the “Protect America Act” SHOULD be allowed to lapse and if you think that the Intelligence Community won’t conduct ‘much-needed surveillance’ on non-U.S. citizen’s outside of the country without authorizing legislation, allow me to remind you of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition and ‘black’ prisons outside of the country, both of which violate human rights and international law. As well as the imposition of torture in violation of U.S. law.

The one amendment I heard mentioned that made any sense was that which extended privacy protections for United State’s citizens no matter their locale. Senator Feinstein’s amendment turning over the legality of the immunity protection to the FISA court (a ‘secret’ court) is the last thing this country needs, specifically more ‘secrecy’. And now Bush has said it is a ‘non-starter’.

The bottomline is that the House and Senate legislation that DOES NOT provide immunity but DOES provide the ‘tools’ the Bush Administration has said are necessary for the ‘war on terror’ (do any of you ever wonder why everything that is an issue in the U.S. becomes a ‘war on’?) are ALL –except the amendment that extends extraterritoriality- that needs to be passed.

If Bush wants to veto such legislation and Republican’s won’t join in a bi-partisan manner to override such a veto, then it is the Bush Administration and Republican Senators and Representatives who are to blame for not acting in a manner that supports ‘national security’.

The ‘message’ that is currently being presented to the citizenry of the United States is that, if immunity is granted, then, once again, Congress has failed in it’s responsibility to the citizenry in favor of corporate donors and a desire to avoid addressing the lawlessness that the Bush Administration has consistently engaged in. And no amount or type of amendments will overcome that idea.

The citizenry of the United States has even a lower opinion of Congress than they do of the Bush Administration and this current example of Congress putting ‘practical’ above ‘Constitutional principle’ and letting the Bush Administration ‘skate’ on it’s illegal practices is but the latest example of why that opinion is so low. If immunity is granted, it will only hasten the demise of this representative form of a republic.

And bluntly speaking, the chances of me or anyone else being harmed from driving on the California freeways is many orders of magnitude greater than being harmed by a ‘terrorist attack’. And people know that fact; governing from a basis of fear is no longer acceptable to the citizenry of the U.S. and Congress needs to realize that. It’s time to stop making a mockery of the words ‘land of the free and home of the brave’.

In closing, I implore you to NOT provide any immunity to the telecommunications companies (don’t they have enough help from the FCC already?) and put the onus on the Bush Administration and Republican’s of both Houses for not passing legislation said to be ESSENTIAL for ‘national security’.

I would also ask that this missive be read on the floor of the House’s and entered into the respective Congressional Record(s).

Sincerely,

Bruce Sims

San Diego, CA 92116

Authors Bio:
Just a 60 year old white male who cares about the ideas upon which this country was founded.