Jun 19th, 2009
Posted by Amanda Simon, ACLU at 5:57pm	Secrecy, Surveillance

Fool Me Once, Shame On You; Continue to Fool Us Without Anyone in Power Doing the Right Thing, Shame On Congress

The New York Times did what they do best this week with a story on the National Security Agency’s once again overstepping its bounds with its surveillance of your phone calls and emails. The story goes that the NSA is continuing its sweeping collection of our communications and, contrary to previous reporting, it’s much more pervasive than we thought. That’s shocking!

Wait...no. IT TOTALLY ISN’T.

The Times wrote in April that the NSA was going outside even the sweeping powers granted to it in the FISA Amendments Act (FAA).

For those of you late to the game, the FAA was passed last July despite opposition from the ACLU and other privacy advocates. The law effectively legalized the unlawful warrantless surveillance program President Bush approved in late 2001. It also gave the government new spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications.

The FAA didn’t pass without controversy but clearly there wasn’t enough to stop members and President Obama from voting for it and in July of last year — as soon as the ink was dry from then-President Bush’s signature — the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the FAA. Oral arguments in that case are scheduled for July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Also on that date? A report is due on the what some refer to as the “Terrorist Surveillance Program” but what I call illegal and unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping of Americans.

In July of last year — as soon as the ink was dry from then-President Bush’s signature — the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the FAA. Oral arguments in that case are scheduled for July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Also on that date? A report is due on what some refer to as the “Terrorist Surveillance Program,” but what I call illegal and unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping of Americans.

The story of our government's use of the NSA to spy on its own citizens is multifaceted and doesn’t seem to ever really die. And it won’t until we make sure there are rock-solid safeguards in place when it comes to our communications.

We’d like to think of our surveillance laws as a work in progress. Since the 111th Congress was gaveled in, we’ve been asking Congress to use this year and the upcoming expiring Patriot Act provisions to reevaluate the multitude of changes made to our surveillance laws over the last eight year — and frankly, before that.

Don’t forget that the FAA was intended to fix the absolute disaster that was the Protect America Act. Congress took nearly a year attempting to mop up that mistake and ended up not that far from where it started.

The reality is we need a thorough and holistic look at the laws that govern our privacy and our right to live our lives free from government intrusion. Here’s hoping the 111th Congress will do the right thing and make a commitment to restoring the chipped-away Fourth Amendment.

Permalink |	Secrecy, Surveillance

1. anonymous Says:
   Jun 19th, 2009 at 6:35pm

   Thank you for this posting/article. Please keep reporting and digging.

   Yes, "shame on Congress" and "shame on the American people" -- all of us -- for not doing what needs to be done to reclaim our privacy rights -- our way of life -- our form of government. Shame on all of us for not standing up for the rule of law.

   As for what the NSA has done and is doing, I believe this: I believe that "The Terrorist Surveillance Program" goes way beyond simple eavesdropping and reading of e-mail. I believe that the NSA (and/or other government agencies and perhaps contractors) are spying on and harassing Americans in ways that most cannot even begin to imagine.

   I believe that certain individuals have been singled out for 24/7 surveillance. I believe that traditional mail is opened and read. I believe that defamation is a piece of the harassment campaign conducted by our government against some of those who are vocal and may have said the wrong thing, purchased the wrong books, amd/or been identified by some faulty algorithm. (What do we really know about NSA's "Main Core" datatbase or whatever it's called.

   I believe that homes have been (and continue to be entered) surreptitiously and property vandalized and/or stolen, in some cases. And there's more...

   I believe that we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. And I believe that it must stop. It's an outrage. The America that I have so loved all of my life has ceased to exist.

   And paranoia isn't an issue. Hell, people thought Martha Mitchell was delusional when she spoke up about corruption in the Nizon administration. And look how that turned out...

   John Dean has said, "It's worse than Watergate." He's right. It is. Most just don't know it yet.

2. Charles Lewis Says:
   Jun 19th, 2009 at 7:21pm

   I bet if your next door neighbor was plotting to blow up your house you would not be so upset that the government found that information out and warned you.
   People who are plotting to do harm to this country need to be tracked down and caught.
   When you use things that are connected to the public you guve up part of your privacy. Use of the phone, the Internet, and public places limit your privacy. If you want total privacy don't use them.

3. anon Says:
   Jun 21st, 2009 at 7:01am

   Will we ever know what our most secretive agencies are doing, if they are able to hide behind the “state secrets privilege”? If anything goes, because government agencies are hiding whatever activities they want to hide, the following question must be asked: Who is running this country?

   Are we not, in theory, supposed to be “a government of the people, by the people and for the people”?

   Refer to “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists”

   Outlaw nonconsensual human experiments now
   By Cheryl Welsh | 16 June 2009

   http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/outlaw-nonco nsensual-human-experiments-now

   If nonconsensual human experiments are, in fact, taking place, should they not be exposed and stopped? Or are we going to let them continue and pretend that we really believe in the rule of law and the Constitution.

4. anon post Says:
   Jun 21st, 2009 at 10:34am

   We're on the proverbial "slippery slope"... The things were seeing are dangerous for a democracy.

5. Hawaiian style Says:
   Jun 21st, 2009 at 12:57pm

   Dear Congress person,

   I know the Constitution is old and sort of out of sight. I know the political pressure to keep America Safe is based on "What will I say if there is another 9/11?"

   We survived the last attack, we will survive the next one. What we will not survive is if you don't learn that the damage to the Constitution and Bill of Rights is of a far longer damage than bombed buildings and unfortunately lost lives.

   Please use every chance to reinforce the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Stop degrading these documents "to be safer".

   We've all heard that "freedom is not free". What we need from you is to educate the public that they as well as our military are on the front line.

   What we need from you is faith in these sacred documents, and maybe the people will realize that compromising them in the name of short term "safety" is a self defeating illusion.

6. General Jake Says:
   Jun 21st, 2009 at 1:21pm

   Thank God organizations like this exist.

7. Dailynews Says:
   Jun 21st, 2009 at 10:32pm

   NSA spying of our private communications, w/o probable cause, is exactly why I have joined other people who have chosen to OPT-OUT of purchasing large ticket items.

   I think no one in their right mind would commit to hustling money to pay for things like a new car knowing our federal government is illegally listening-in on our communications (such as our confidential business deals) over the phone/internet. Moreover, we are now vulnerable to any eavesdropping federal employee hiding behind the “Patriot Act,” to throw a behind-the-scene wrench in someone's business transaction(s) simply b/c he/she does not like that person's political take-on things.

   I urge anyone who wants to put a stop to unaccountable, illegal NSA surveillance to stop spending money on big-ticket items altogether. Such action will let POTUS know the current severe recession will only get worse as long as he continues to allow federal employees to engage in illegal wiretaps/surveillance on Americans.

8. Paen Says:
   Jun 23rd, 2009 at 1:51pm

   I thought 1984 ended 25 years ago.

9. tin man Says:
   Jun 24th, 2009 at 9:39am

   Unless the American people can put their ego's away and identify the common enemy to all of us, then politically fuse the left and right of the false political spectrum against the enemy..the Whitehouse will remain captured territory.

10. Vic Livingston Says:
    Jun 24th, 2009 at 3:55pm

    AMONG THE THE REAL ENEMIES: SOME OF THOSE WHO HAVE UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO THE SEAT OF AMERICAN POWER

    The enemy is within, Tin Man -- a "multi-agency coordinated action" array of programs apparently coordinated by a secretive security officials and operatives close to the seat of executive power...

    ...a shadow government apparatus that aims to weed out those who do not hew to the authoritarian, rightist ideology.

    Yet the Obama administration -- and ACLU -- remain seemingly naive to the threat that hides in plain sight -- or are they co-opted enablers due to their refusal to take off rose-colored glasses when it comes to DOMESTIC TORTURE and repression?

    When will the ACLU realize that torture and extrajudicial targeting and punishment have been institutionalized -- an extrajudicial bypass that ACLU COMNPLETELY IGNORES in favor of campaigning against the torture of a few hundred detainees.

    Torture, American-style is a DOMESTIC affair.

    THE BUSH-ERA "EXTRAJUDICIAL TARGETING AND PUNISHMENT NETWORK" REMAINS IN PLACE...

    ..."MULTI-AGENCY COORDINATED ACTION" OPERATIONS AGAINST UNJUSTLY TARGETED AMERICANS DEEMED TO BE DISSIDENTS, TROUBLEMAKERS, OR SLANDERED AS SOCIAL DEVIATES.

    THIS NATIONWIDE SYSTEM OF VIGILANTE INJUSTICE POSES A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY -- AND TO THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY.

    The Bush-Cheney "multi-agency action" extrajudicial vigilante network and a related unconstitutional array of "programs of personal destruction" remain in place -- operating in virtually every community in the U.S., aided and abetted by local authorities.

    President Obama may not even be aware of some of the deeply entrenched "ops" that threaten his presidency...

    • A nationwide army of "community stalking" citizen vigilantes hiding behind federally-funded volunteer organizations -- using covertly implanted GPS tracking devices to stalk, harass, vandalize and terrorize unjustly "targeted" citizens and families;

    • Deployment of classified "directed energy" microwave radiation weaponry to jurisdictions nationwide -- weapons that victims of "community gang stalking" claim are used to torture and physically degrade "undesirables";

    • Multi-agency "programs of personal destruction" -- ranging from pervasive spying to a parallel system of transaction processing that victims maintain amounts to fascistic theft by deception.

    These rogue programs must be taken down to preserve the rule of law in America.

    Immediately. Before more damage is done.

    The agencies of government that are commandeering this devolution of American democracy must be reined in and reformed, top to bottom, never again to subvert the rule of law.

    http://nowpublic.com/world/gestapo-usa-govt-funded-vigilan te-network-terrorizes-america

    OR (if link is corrupted / disabled):

    http://My.NowPublic.com/scrivener

11. anon Says:
    Jun 30th, 2009 at 10:25pm

    I don't know about the directed-energy weapons, but the rest of it is true. Tragically, no one who could help seems to care.

    COINTELPRO? Why wouldn't these programs have reared their ugly heads during the last few years? The climate was perfect for a surge. We need these programs to be exposed and stopped.

12. a patriot Says:
    Jul 4th, 2009 at 9:06am

    The government's "watch list" contains over a million names, according to reports and, yet, those on the watch list have no recourse. Are we so naive as to think that the watch list is only being used by the TSA?

    Is it possible that COINTELPRO is alive and well, and many of those on the watch list are being surveilled, harassed and God-knows-what-else by those who believe that a position left- of-center is somehow treasonous. Something is amiss and I know this for certain. No one will touch the problem -- it is being ignored. Why?

    How do those people who pursue justice for a living sleep at night knowing that this fragile democracy is in peril - that some people are being harassed (and worse) right here within our borders, as they simply try to go about their lives. It's not simply about being followed. Whoever is behind this has taken the need to "keep America safe" to a level that very few Americans would find acceptable, if they knew the truth.

    As it's been said, "Freedom isn't free." Neither are some law-abiding, good, patriotic Americans who would like to be able to live their lives without government interference. We have a basic right to be "left alone." There should not be some sort of arbitrary extrajudicial system that punishes people for their political views, perhaps something trivial, or any reason at all. It is unacceptable and unAmerican.

    We should not allow our governmental agencies to single people out for experimentation (without consent) if, in fact, these sorts of things are still taking place in America. Someone needs to dig or blow the whistle. Someone needs to help. It's an outrage that this is taking place in America. Something is terribly wrong and many are turning a blind-eye.

    Happy Independence Day, America. Let's do the right thing.

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