Comments on: Neglected Portion of H.R. 6304: Physical Searches Are Covered, Too

By: Davinchi

Davinchi — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:00:53 +0000

By: Happiness Hacker (Marly Manning)

Happiness Hacker (Marly Manning) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:29:54 +0000

The integrity, security and safety of our national telephone and Internet communications systems must become a major concern as we look forward to Change in November.

Private government contractors monitor all U.S. telephone and Internet communications. Some of these private contractors are corrupt or have weak internal controls.

60-70% of the National Security Agency and the CIA’s National Clandestine Services budgets are paid to private contractors. See http://HappinessHacker.com for links to NYTimes articles and respected sources that document private government contractor concerns.

Do you think all these private security contractors are honest and honorable?

The War on Terror is a $100+ billion industry, the people and organizations profiting from it will not let go easily.

Can we have fair and free elections in November if our telephone and Internet communications systems are compromised?

Please give this issue some attention.

By: H.R. 6304 Translated–What the FISA Compromise Really Means (cont) « Repeal FISA-CALL TO ACTION! Call all Senators! Senate Office Switchboard (202) 224-3121

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:02:24 +0000

[...] It then (as Sec 105 did for electronic surveillance) strikes the existing rules for emergency orders of physical searches (which are nearly identical to the existing ones for electronic searches) and replaces them. The new law is basically the same as what Sec 105 made for electronic surveillance. If the Attorney General ‘reasonably’ believes a warrant would be awarded he may order the search before filing an application, which he has seven days (instead of the 72 hours allowed in existing law) to file with the FISA court. As it turns out tracking2008 has a good eye, and caught something I did not catch in Sec 105 that is both there and here: Information obtained from both physical searches and electronic surveillances without a FISA court warrant (either before or after the fact) is inadmissible as evidence before any governmental authority–except when employed to prevent imminent death or direct harm. I caught that part, and was ok with that. What I missed, but tracking2008 caught was the clause just underneath that which reads: “(6) The Attorney General shall assess compliance with the requirements of paragraph (5)” this means that only the Attorney General gets to decide if illegally obtained information (meaning information obtained without FISA court blessing) is misused. This was NOT in the existing law, and is something we should be very concerned about. It runs against the very principle of checks and balances 50 U.S.C. as a whole. My thanks to tracking2008 for catching that in his post. [...]

By: Harry Reid Gears Up For Political Theater « The Creature Politic

Harry Reid Gears Up For Political Theater « The Creature Politic — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:22:25 +0000

[...] immunity provisions. Sadly, that’s only a small part of the larger picture; H.R. 6304 includes provisions authorizing warrantless physical searches of Americans. Further, the increased accountability that Democrats are claiming as the positive side of the bill [...]

By: Harry Reid Gears Up For Political Theater « Repeal FISA-CALL TO ACTION! Call all Senators!

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:21:03 +0000

By: Nijma

Nijma — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:15:18 +0000

Sorry, typo, it should read: “They will try to vote on the bill this week.”

By: Nijma

Nijma — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:13:42 +0000

Thank you for the analysis, Track.

I haven’t even had time to read this bill. By the time I do, it will be too late.

The government already has the power to wiretap with a court order, and the FISA courts approve practically every request that is made. They can also start wiretapping first and get a court order later. So why is this bill so necessary at all?

Maybe there is some secret evidence that is not being presented to the public? We have all seen what happens when congress votes on secret information. That’s how we got into Iraq. The government said “trust us, we have classified information”, the senators were briefed in secret , and we ended up with a war all right, but where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction we went in there to get? There was no secret evidence–it was all fabricated. Now the government is again saying “trust us”.

The text of the bill is now available at Thomas, which also shows a motion for closure has been introduced in the Senate.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.06304:

They will try to vote on the bill this week. [site sdit]

We need to stop making plans and start making phone calls.

So far the focus of the phone calls has been to the Obama campaign. There are reports that those who now try to call his public phone numbers cannot get through.

ALL the senators should be receiving phone calls–the ones who are in favor of FISA and the ones who oppose it. Their phones should ALL be tied up, their fax machines should ALL be out of paper. Let them talk about that when they see each other in the Senate cafeteria and the Senate gym.

What about a putting call to action at the top of this webpage with the senate phone number?

By: stilljanet

stilljanet — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:44:18 +0000

Great research and a very good question. Why isn’t this being reported?