A BuzzFlash Reader Contribution

GET BUZZFLASH ALERTS

CONTRIBUTOR ARCHIVES  

False Framing of NSA Story

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by a BuzzFlash Reader

The legality of the NSA snooping story is being falsely framed by its defenders, and that false frame is being repeated to bury the obvious illegality of the program. Look here:

"The president has been very clear that we are to pursue our intelligence programs within the law," Mr. Hadley said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. He also said that leading lawmakers in the House and the Senate had been given details of the surveillance programs.

"They have been briefed to appropriate members of the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee," he said.

But some lawmakers said Sunday that Congress had been kept in the dark.

"There has been no meaningful Congressional oversight of these programs," said Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Specter has said he will hold hearings soon with representatives from the telephone companies that turned over millions of telephone records to the N.S.A."

Bush Aide Defends Acts by N.S.A. (NY Times)

This theme creates the false debate about whether congress has or has not been adequately "briefed" when the legal problem is that the executive branch is bypassing the constitutional requirement that probable cause be shown to the judicial branch in order to obtain a warrant. "Briefing congress" is not a substitute for judicial review or an effective means by which to usurp the authority of the judicial branch of government.

A BuzzFlash Reader

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

[BuzzFlash Note: Today's news, as Reuters reports, is: Bush Reverses Stand on Spy Program Oversight: Full Senate and House Intelligence Committees to Review Surveillance. What we should see but haven't is, "Bush Agrees to FISA Court Oversight, Full Judicial Review of Surveillance Programs."]