ACLU Says Specter’s NSA Legislation Would Pardon President’s Illegal Actions; Group Calls for Inspector General Investigation (5/16/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today strongly condemned a
new proposal drafted by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA)
that embraces the president’s claims of inherent power to secretly wiretap
Americans without meaningful checks. Also today, the organization renewed its
request to the Justice Department’s Inspector General to open an investigation
into the involvement of the department in the warrantless spying on Americans by
the National Security Agency.
"The Specter bill would essentially whitewash the illegal actions of the Bush
administration," said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive Director. "Congress
should not move forward on any legislation until and unless it has a full
understanding of the facts. President Bush has used 9/11 as a blank check to
abuse his power to the detriment of the rule of law and the Constitution. What
we need now is vigorous congressional oversight and a thorough investigation
into the NSA’s illegal spying programs."
Specter’s new draft would replace a bill he had previously introduced,
S.2453, the National Security Surveillance Act of 2006. The new version would
pardon the president for authorizing the warrantless wiretapping of Americans,
in violation of current criminal and intelligence laws. Specifically, the new
bill would amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the
criminal code by allowing wiretapping at the direction of the president outside
of those existing laws. This move would create a retroactive exception to
criminal liability when warrantless wiretapping is done at the president’s
direction under a claim of inherent authority.
With the revelations in USA Today about the NSA’s data-mining program,
the ACLU said Congress should insist the president follow legal rules requiring
a court order for information about whom Americans call, domestically and
internationally, and how long they talk to their family, friends or business
associates. The ACLU noted that now is not the time to embrace a theory of
unilateral power to spy on Americans.
The draft bill would also eliminate some other protections of FISA. For
example, Specter’s bill would permit the president to claim a right to conduct
secret searches of American homes and businesses if war is ever declared and
permit eavesdropping on calls and monitoring of phone records without following
FISA’s rules. The ACLU noted that FISA was enacted after Watergate to restrict
the ability of presidents to unilaterally spy on Americans under the guise of
national security
Also today, the ACLU renewed its call to Inspector General Fine at the
Justice Department to investigate that department’s involvement in illegal NSA
spying program. The ACLU noted that the IG must initiate an investigation
because the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility has been
denied the required security clearances to conduct its own investigation into
the warrantless eavesdropping program. The attorney general has rejected
repeated calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the
program.
"The administration’s stonewalling must not be rewarded; it must be
investigated," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington
Legislative Office. "Federal law requires that the inspector general investigate
abuses of civil liberties by officials and employees of the Justice Department.
The American public and the rule of law deserve nothing less. If the
administration is so confident in the program’s legality, then it should welcome
an independent investigation."
To read the ACLU’s letter on the Specter legislation, go
to: www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/25578leg20060516.html
To read the ACLU’s letter to the Justice Department’s Inspector General, go to: www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/25577leg20060515.html
For more on the ACLU’s concerns with the warrantless NSA
eavesdropping program, go to: www.aclu.org/nsaspying
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