Saturday, January 28, 2006
Senate RhetIraq: Sen. Arlen Spector
Who: Senator Arlen Spector (R-PA), Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee
Source: Findlaw
Quotes: Excerpts from January 24, 2006 letter to AttorneyGeneral Alberto Gonzalez in preparation for February 6, 2006 hearing concerning the NSA’s surveillance authority:
In interpreting whether Congress intended to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by the September 14, 2001 Resolution (Resolution), would it be relevant on the issue of Congressional intent that the Administration did not specifically ask for an expansion of Executive powers under FISA? Was it because you thought you couldn't get such an expansion as when you said: "That was not something that we could likely get?"
If Congress had intended to amend FISA by the Resolution, wouldn't Congress have specifically acted to as Congress did in passing the Patriot Act giving the Executive expanded powers and greater flexibility in using "roving" wiretaps?
Wasn't President Carter's signature on FISA in 1978, together with his signing statement, an explicit renunciation of any claim to inherent Executive authority under Article II of the Consititution to conduct warrantless domestic surveillance when the Act provided the exclusive procedures for such surveillance?
How can the Executive justify disclosure to only the so-called "Gang of Eight" instead of the full intelligence committees when Title V of the National Security Act of 1947 provides:
SEC.501.[50 U.S.C 413] (a)(1) The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this title. (Emphasis added)
(2)(e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authority to withhold information from the congressional intelligence committees on the grounds that providing the information to the congressional intelligence committees would constitute the unauthorized disclosure of classifed information or information relating to intelligence sources and methods. (Emphasis added)
What case law does the Executive rely upon in asserting Article II powers to conduct the electronic surveillance at issue?
Source: Findlaw
Quotes: Excerpts from January 24, 2006 letter to AttorneyGeneral Alberto Gonzalez in preparation for February 6, 2006 hearing concerning the NSA’s surveillance authority:
In interpreting whether Congress intended to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by the September 14, 2001 Resolution (Resolution), would it be relevant on the issue of Congressional intent that the Administration did not specifically ask for an expansion of Executive powers under FISA? Was it because you thought you couldn't get such an expansion as when you said: "That was not something that we could likely get?"
If Congress had intended to amend FISA by the Resolution, wouldn't Congress have specifically acted to as Congress did in passing the Patriot Act giving the Executive expanded powers and greater flexibility in using "roving" wiretaps?
Wasn't President Carter's signature on FISA in 1978, together with his signing statement, an explicit renunciation of any claim to inherent Executive authority under Article II of the Consititution to conduct warrantless domestic surveillance when the Act provided the exclusive procedures for such surveillance?
How can the Executive justify disclosure to only the so-called "Gang of Eight" instead of the full intelligence committees when Title V of the National Security Act of 1947 provides:
SEC.501.[50 U.S.C 413] (a)(1) The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this title. (Emphasis added)
(2)(e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authority to withhold information from the congressional intelligence committees on the grounds that providing the information to the congressional intelligence committees would constitute the unauthorized disclosure of classifed information or information relating to intelligence sources and methods. (Emphasis added)
What case law does the Executive rely upon in asserting Article II powers to conduct the electronic surveillance at issue?
