Obama Admin Seeks to Legalize And Expand Government
Spying
Disturbing arguments from DOJ betray intention to make
government immune from any legal challenge over wiretapping
Steve
Watson Infowars.net
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Advocacy
group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has warned that the
Obama administration is seeking to expand the government's authority
to carry out wiretapping under the auspices of national security.
The EFF points to the dismissal
of its own litigation against the National Security
Agency for the warrantless wiretapping, warning that arguments
made in defense of wiretapping by Obama's Department of Justice
are worse than Bush's.
EFF writer Tim Jones explains the arguments that
were made by the DOJ in the Jewel v. NSA case:
First, they argued, exactly as the Bush Administration
did on countless occasions, that the state secrets privilege
requires the court to dismiss the issue out of hand. They
argue that simply allowing the case to continue "would
cause exceptionally grave harm to national security."
As in the past, this is a blatant ploy to dismiss the litigation
without allowing the courts to consider the evidence.[...]
it's the Department Of Justice's second argument
that is the most pernicious. The DOJ claims that the U.S.
Government is completely immune from litigation for illegal
spying — that the Government can never be sued for surveillance
that violates federal privacy statutes. [...]
The Obama Administration goes two steps further
than Bush did, and claims that the US PATRIOT Act also renders
the U.S. immune from suit under the two remaining key federal
surveillance laws: the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications
Act. Essentially, the Obama Administration has claimed that
the government cannot be held accountable for illegal surveillance
under any federal statutes.
The Obama Administration’s full motion to dismiss can
be read
here (PDF).
In short, not only is the Obama administration
actively defending and protecting Bush officials over illegal
wiretapping, they are arguing in favor of expanding the practice
and already seeking to protect themselves and any other administration
past or present from legal challenge.
(Article continues below)
Watch a Keith Olbermann report on this story:
When dovetailed with recent announcements by Obama's Director
of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair, that the NSA
is seeking to expand it's power, a clear and disturbing
picture emerges.
Blair's intention to encompass all electronic communications
within the NSA's scope is a direct continuation of
the policy under the Bush administration. Last year the former
US National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell announced
plans for cyberspace spying that would make the
current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk
in the park".
The plan would mean giving the government the authority to
examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search.
This is exactly the kind of thing we warned our readers of
before Obama was elected. Instead of repealing the freedom stripping
tools put into place by the Bush administration, Obama is
continuing to use them and is even seeking to enhance
them.
Advocacy
group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has warned that the
Obama administration is seeking to expand the government's authority
to carry out wiretapping under the auspices of national security.
