There’s A War Going On, Right?
But, Congress doesn’t seem to realize it unless they’re fighting about ending it prematurely or whether or not to fund it. Recently, the Senate passed legislation to close the terrorist loophole in the 37 year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Specifically, the bill would modernize the critical FISA law while adding important liability protections for third parties who have stepped up to the plate in the interest of our national security.
The House decided only to extend the law that was set to expire last Friday instead of signing the bill for passage by the President into law. As usual, Pelosi tried to pass the blame back onto the administration and House Republicans. “The President and House Republicans refused to support the extension and therefore will bear the responsibility should any adverse national consequences result,” she said. Most Democratic Senators supported it, even sending Pelosi letters urging her support. Late last year, 21 state Attorneys General wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in support of the Senate’s approach as well
“Among other things, the bill would directly address the extensive litigation that communications carriers face based on allegations that they responded to requests from the government regarding certain intelligence-gathering programs. For a number of reasons, we support these carefully crafted provisions of the bill that the Intelligence Committee adopted on a bi-partisan basis.”
Joel Arends has a great piece about this up on National Review called “Does Congress Realize We’re at War?” As a Soldier, I don’t think so. Terrorism is the number one threat to this country and its citizens around the globe. Terrorism is not a tradition threat; like one that wears a uniform to distinguish itself. Instead, it hides in the shadows and uses the populace against itself. It camouflages itself in society striking at the most opportune times when security and public conciousness are low or comfortable. It exploits weaknesses to cause the most significant impact possible. Terrorism does not need to rely on many small operations, but singular large operations that will get the attention of the people. Instead of doing everything we can, within the limits of civil rights, to combat this threat, Congress is making it more difficult.
Our terrorist surveillance laws are critical to keeping our nation safe from attack, but until they are modernized, we will be at a significant disadvantage against the terrorists who threaten our way of life. The Senate-passed bill would modernize these laws in the long-term so intelligence officials, not government lawyers, are entrusted to protect our national security.
There are severe consequences in failing to act on this, which Pelosi did because:
· on-going surveillance under the Act can continue for up to a year.
· This might be acceptable if the terrorist threat also expired last weekend. But it didn’t.
· With the Act expired, we have returned to the status quo, unable to begin new foreign intelligence surveillance without a court order — again threatening America’s counter-terrorism efforts.
· Foreign terrorists have never enjoyed rights under the Constitution. Yet, by allowing the Protect America Act to expire, that is exactly what they got.
· The law has never required a court order for surveillance of a foreign terrorist in a foreign country, even if they call someone in the U.S. When a terrorist target overseas does contact an American, our intelligence laws provide minimization procedures to limit surveillance.
· If suspicions are raised about an American’s contact with a foreign terrorist, the law requires the government to obtain a court order to target that American.
· Everyone agrees that we need strong protections against monitoring of Americans’ communications. That’s why our intelligence laws have always required court orders to target people in the U.S.
· Neither the Senate bill nor the Protect America Act changes this requirement. They simply reaffirm that surveillance of a foreign target in a foreign country does not require a court order. This is not revolutionary. It’s common sense.
Here is what Joel had to say last Friday:
Today, because Congress failed to act, our intelligence officials no longer have the legal authority to collect foreign intelligence. Exactly the type of intelligence that disrupted several planned terrorists attacks on the United States. Because we face a very real threat to the national security of this country, we must take very real measures to protect our citizens and give our soldiers and our allies around the world the tools they need to keep us safe.
When will our Congress begin to display even a small amount of the courage that our men women fighting for us display day in and day out? Their refusal to reauthorize this legislation is more than an act of submission to trial lawyers, Moveon.org, and the far-left wing of a party that fails to recognize that we face deadly threats from radical Islamic terrorists. Its an act of political cowardice. It’s a sign of an unwillingness to respect the sacrifices made by the members of the military who need that intelligence to successfully accomplish their mission.
It’s a short article, so make sure you read the rest of it.
Remember that whole sheep story: “the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.” This is what is happening in Congress today. We cannot afford to sacrifice another 3000 in the next terrorist attack because we’ve returned to the policies of the 90’s trying to recover a “peace dividend” that only resulted in more violence.
