| PresstheNews.Com |
| We Can't Tell You Why FISA Does Not Work, Because That is Secret Too |
ON THE
Newshour, with Jim Lehrer earlier this winter, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
stated: "But for
operational reasons, there were some issues that made it difficult to use FISA
and --"
Host Jim Lehrer: "Like what, a timing problem, not enough time"?
Gonzales: "Again, I can't get into much of the details without divulging much of what the program that continues to remain classified."
Yet here is what Gonzales said a few sentences later:
| "And again, I'm talking about a very limited focus program, Jim, where one avenue of communication has to be outside the United States, and we have to have a reasonable basis to believe that a party to the call is a member of al-Qaida or a member of an organization that is affiliated with al-Qaida" |
Which of course would fall under FISA, whether the warrant were obtained beforehand, as FISA allows, or even afterwards, as FISA allows. Additionally, if for some reason a warrant application is declined, the executive branch, if it feels it is in the interests of national security, can proceed, if it feels it is in the interests of national security, while waiting for the warrant appeal. Even if the appeal were subsequently denied, this would still create a record for review - a main purpose of FISA, and one which, clearly this administration feels is an unnecessary check upon the government's clandestine powers. (The issue of whether the Executive Branch had such a right under the Constitution to disregard the laws that Congress has passed, clandestinely or not, is another matter altogether).
In essence, Gonzales argues that a law that Congress passed, to require at least a record for review with respect to the U.S. gov't spying on U.S. citizens, can be violated in the name of national security, and thus that spying, done secretly even from a review of the rest of government, can be done as well under our Constitution. And for what specific reasons? According to the above testimony on The NewsHour, those remain a secret too.