Here we go again. As Congress heads toward a holiday recess, Bush administration officials are putting on the full-court press, urging lawmakers to approve legislation giving the government wide-ranging spy powers in the name of national security.
High on the agenda is blanket immunity for communications companies that have allowed warrantless spying on customers.
It’s a dangerous idea that would give the administration cover for its activities by taking away the ability to question them through a lawsuit.
A story in The New York Times on Sunday provided several examples, including one in Denver, of how those spy operations have played out.
Back in 2001, the National Security Agency asked executives at Qwest Communications for permission to tap into the Denver phone carrier’s system.
The NSA wanted to install monitoring equipment in a facility that transmitted a large volume of local calls, as well as limited international traffic.
An unnamed administration official said in the story that Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio misunderstood the request. The NSA was planning only to monitor foreigners on the Qwest network. Even if it’s true, it’s disconcerting to think that the government would be planting its bugs in a system that has broad local use.
Qwest refused the request, citing concerns about the legality of it without a court order.
That’s how it should work. Ultimately, the administration is responsible for the legality of its activities, but the communications companies should be as well when they act outside the law.
If the NSA wants to listen in, it ought to get a warrant from a secret court established by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or FISA.
The court was intended to provide oversight for such spying activity, and it’s this law that is at issue before Congress this week.
In August — just before Congress’ summer break — the administration managed to bully the legislative branch into passing what it called an “update” to FISA to take into account changes brought by the digital era.
Instead, what we got was a law that gave the administration broad new powers to spy without obtaining a warrant, even a secret one. That includes authority to intercept, without oversight, any call or e-mail so long as there’s a belief one party is on foreign soil. Thankfully, lawmakers set a sunset date of Feb. 1 for the changes.
The administration is pushing hard this week to get lawmakers to re-up the legislation and to add the telecom immunity provision.
Congress must resist and instead pass a bill that gives the FISA court greater jurisdiction to oversee the spying program.
Acceding to administration demands would be an unconscionable evisceration of civil liberties protections.
