Does the Supreme Court judgement on Guantanamo Bay mean NSA surveillance is illegal ? Schiff , Inman says it is.

At a hearing on Thursday, April 06, 2006 before the House Judiciary Committee today, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA 29th District) questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the NSA's secret domestic wiretapping program. (Remember, US law directly forbids the NSA and the CIA from spying on US citizens inside the US. This is FBI territory and then only with a court order for setting up wire taps etc.,)

Schiff raised concerns about the claims that there was no limiting principle to the Administration's claim of authority in the War on Terror, Rep. Schiff asked the Attorney General whether the Administration believes it has the authority to wiretap purely domestic calls between two Americans without seeking a warrant.

"I’m not going to rule it out," responded the Attorney General.

"This is very disturbing testimony," reports Schiff .... "if the Administration believes it can tap purely domestic phone calls between Americans without court approval, there is no limit to executive power. This is contrary to settled law and the most basic constitutional principles of the separation of powers."

Dan Eggen from Wapo was there and wrote an article (no longer available at Wapo website) in which he wrote ..."In yesterday's testimony, Gonzales reiterated earlier hints that there may be another facet to the NSA program that has not been revealed publicly, or even another program that has prompted dissension within the government," At one point, discussing whether some people inside the administration have challenged the spying plan, Gonzales said that those disagreements "did not relate to the program the president disclosed. They related to something else ..... and I can't get into that."

Something else ?

Rep. Schiff and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) have introduced bipartisan legislation -- the NSA Oversight Act -- to reassert that FISA and Title III are the sole authority for domestic surveillance. The bill would (inter alia) reiterate Exclusivity of Current FISA and Wiretap Laws - states that FISA and the federal criminal wiretap statutes shall continue to be the exclusive means by which domestic electronic surveillance may be conducted.

In the New York Times today an article covering the Supreme Court's decision about the legitimacy of tribunals invented to provide a form of legal process for Guantanamo Bay detainees says...

"In ruling that the Congressional "authorization for the use of military force," passed in the days immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, cannot be interpreted to legitimize the military commissions, the ruling poses a direct challenge to the administration's claimed legal justification for its secret wiretapping program."

The authors contacted Schiff, he claimed that in the view that the court refused to give an open-ended ruling to the force resolution meant that, " the resolution could not be viewed as authorizing the National Security Agency's domestic wiretapping."

FOOTNOTES

1. Bobby Ray Inman

Monday May 8th Monday 2006 night at a panel discussion at the New York Public Library on the NSA’s continued use of warrantless domestic wiretaps authorized by President Bush, former NSA director (under President Jimmy Carter) Bobby Ray Inman (now a professor of national policy at University of Texas), became one of the highest-ranking former intelligence officials to publicly criticize the program. He has been very careful in public statements he’s made since the NSA eavesdropping program hit the public media in December, he now said that “this activity is not authorized,” and that the Bush administration “need(s) to get away from the idea that they can continue doing it.”

Interesting interview and comment about Inman here, who is quotes as saying about the invasion of Iraq, ""Oil has everything to do with our relationship with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates. Where Iraq is concerned, our policy has everything to do with Israel's long-term security." read more on his fascinating views on this topic..."Iraq is about, on the one side, weapons of mass destruction, the U.N. and disarmament. And on the other one, goes back to '96, Richard Perle's study -- Institute for Advanced Political Studies --and the absolute dedication that Wolfowitz, Feith, Perle, Rumsfeld, Wurmser, Bolton ..." Evidently not a man who will be invited to talk to AIPAC anytime soon.

2. What happened when Net Wizard (AKA Mr. Yakov Shafranovich) asked the NSA under FOI for copies of the records they hold on his phone records ... ? find out and get the details how you can ask them for yourself by e-mail.