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Report to Congress on the Benefits of the President’s E-Government Initiatives, January 6, 2006. (183 pages, PDF) “The Federal government is delivering results through expansion and adoption of electronic government principles and best practices in managing information technology, and is increasingly providing timely and accurate information to the citizens and government decision makers while ensuring …
A Legal Analysis of the NSA Warrantless Surveillance Program, by Morton H. Halperin, January 6, 2006 Secrecy News: “Halperin, a leading civil libertarian and former Pentagon and State Department official, played an influential role in the enactment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which subjected intelligence surveillance within the United States to …
Press release, January 6, 2006: “U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin today sent a letter to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert requesting that a special House panel be created “to undertake an immediate investigation and hearings into the President’s purported authority to conduct eavesdropping of U.S. citizens without a court order.” Press release, January 9, 2005: …
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on the nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for Monday, January 9, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. in the Senate Hart Office Building Room 216. Chairman Specter will preside. Media Guidelines for the …
AP: Specter Seeks AG’s Testimony on Spying Related references: December 19, 2005 Press Briefing by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and General Michael Hayden, Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence. The NSA Spy Engine: Echelon, by Jason Leopold Related postings on domestic surveillance
According to a CNET News.com article by Declan McCullagh, pledges by many U.S. Senators not to use cookies on their e-gov sites have, in at least 23 instances, gone unfulfilled. This is in following with recent news about the use of tracking technology on other e-gov sites, including the White House and NSA.
CRS Report, January 5, 2006: Presidential Authority to Conduct Warrantless Electronic Surveillance to Gather Foreign Intelligence Information (44 pages, PDF) Related references: New York Times, Report Questions Legal Basis for Bush’s Spying Program: “President Bush’s rationale for authorizing eavesdropping on American citizens without warrants rests on questionable legal ground and “may represent an exercise of …
The Washington Post today reported that the FISA Court judges will be briefed by intelligence officials next week on details regarding post 9/11 authorization of domestic wiretapping. In addition, the article states that only the court’s presiding judge was informed about the program prior to the information becoming public in December 2005. Related references: How …
AP reports IRS to Strip Political Info From Databases: The contractor that provides the IRS with online data for tax collection purposes has been including information about citizens’ political affiliation, mined from voter registration records. As noted in the article however, “IRS employees are prohibited from using political party affiliation when enforcing tax laws.”
AP reports that House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat, Rep. Jane Harman sent a letter to the White House stating the limited scope of NSA briefings on domestic surveillance, provided only to select members of Congress, did not comply with the National Security Act. Related references: “EPIC has obtained the first Freedom of Information Act documents …
Today Ken Wainstein, United States Attorney, District of Columbia, discussed the use and reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act on the Ask the White House online forum. Related resource: Search and analyze the text from the USA Patriot Act (Public Law 107-56), from AskSam
In following previous postings on domestic surveillance, a glimpse into the contentious situation between Congress and the White House, exemplified by the following exchange from the White House Press Briefing by Scott McClellan, January 3, 2006: Q A number of members of Congress do not agree that the President has the authority to do what …
