President Signs Extension of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

[Marauder06]

http://news.msn.com/politics/obama-signs-extension-to-foreign-surveillance-law

President Barack Obama has signed into law a five-year extension of the U.S. government's authority to monitor the overseas activity of suspected foreign spies and terrorists.

The Senate gave final congressional approval Friday in a 73-23 vote. The classified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act program was on the brink of expiring by year's end.

The Senate majority rejected arguments from an unusual combination of Democratic liberals and ideological Republican conservatives, who sought to amend the bill to require the government to reveal statistics showing whether any Americans were swept up in the foreign intercepts. The attempt lost, with 52 votes against and 43 in favor.

The Obama administration's intelligence community and leaders of the Senate's intelligence committee said the information should be classified and opposed the disclosure, repeating that it is illegal to target Americans without an order from a special U.S. surveillance court.

The group seeking more disclosures also sought — unsuccessfully — a determination by the government of whether any intelligence agency attempted to use information gained from foreigners to search for information on Americans without a warrant, referred to as "back-door" searches. The prohibition against targeting Americans without a warrant protects Americans wherever they are, in the United States or somewhere else.

The debate focused on the need to balance national security with civil liberties. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the chairwoman and top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned that the classified intercept program would be jeopardized if even statistical information was disclosed. They sparred repeatedly with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who held the bill up for months until he was allowed to argue on the Senate floor that Americans' civil liberties were in danger under the law.

During debate that began Thursday, Feinstein bluntly told Wyden, a fellow liberal, that she opposed his disclosure amendment because, "I know where this goes. Where it goes is to destroy the program."

Wyden insisted his group was interested only in making public estimates that already existed. In insisting on information about whether the foreign intercepts led to warrantless "back door" searches of Americans, the senator said there already had been one instance of such a violation.
He said the finding of a violation, details of which remain classified, "demonstrates the impact of the law on Americans' privacy has been real and is not hypothetical."

 

[Karoshi]

Hmmm, Dianne Feinstein shows what a class act she is once again.

 

[0699]

SWEET!!

 

[Karoshi]

Anytime I see Sen. Feinstein's name attached to anything firearms related from today forward, my first thought is now going to be "I know where this goes. Where it goes is to destroy the 2nd Amendment."

 

[Kraut783]

Good....this is a very important tool in the tool box. Anyone who has ever worked with FISA's can tell you how hard and detailed the request has to be, it's not an easy process.

 

[Karoshi]

The thing I wonder is whether or not the disclosure amendment that was proposed would have actually had any negative effect on the FISA, as was suggested by Sen. Feinstein.

 

[AWP]

This story is full of Win and Irony at the same time.

 

[Kraut783]

Considering FISA content is classified....I would not want the information disclosed. Thats one of the reasons for an organization like the select intel committee.

"Wyden insisted his group was interested only in making public estimates that already existed."

Bullshit...

 

[Scotth]

As long as we have a FISA court as a check-n-balance mechanism I have no problem with it being classified.