Will Congress Allow Us To Fill The Intel Gap?
Aug. 6, 2007 issue - Six years after 9/11 , U.S. intel officials are complaining about the emergence of a major “gap” in their ability to secretly eavesdrop on suspected terrorist plotters. In a series of increasingly anxious pleas to Congress, intel “czar” Mike McConnell has argued that the nation’s spook community is “missing a significant portion of what we should be getting” from electronic eavesdropping on possible terror plots. Rep. Heather Wilson, a GOP member of the House intelligence community, told NEWSWEEK she has learned of “specific cases where U.S. lives have been put at risk” as a result. Intel agency spokespeople declined to elaborate.
The intel gap results partly from rapid changes in the technology carrying much of the world’s message traffic (principally telephone calls and e-mails). The National Security Agency is falling so far behind in upgrading its infrastructure to cope with the digital age that the agency has had problems with its electricity supply, forcing some offices to temporarily shut down. The gap is also partly a result of administration fumbling over legal authorization for eavesdropping by U.S. agencies.
The post-Watergate Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) required a warrant for eavesdropping on people in the U.S. But after 9/11, the administration asserted that warrants weren’t needed to surveil communications involving suspected terrorists even inside the U.S. The controversy over “warrantless wiretapping” made intel officials gun-shy about eavesdropping even on messages they would have regarded as fair game before 9/11.
According to both administration and congressional officials (anonymous when discussing such issues), the White House and intelligence czar’s office are now urgently trying to negotiate a legal fix with Congress that would make it easier for NSA to eavesdrop on e-mails and phone calls where all parties are located outside the U.S., even if at some point the message signal crosses into U.S. territory.
Much of the electronic communications NSA once pored over, between two parties communicating with each other outside the U.S., used to travel via satellite or radiolike signal, leaving NSA free to pluck the messages out of the air. Technological innovations, however, have shifted more and more traffic—both e-mail and telephone calls—to hard-wired or fiberoptic networks, many of which have critical switching or transit facilities inside the U.S. Therefore, intel-collection officials concluded that FISA court authorizations should be obtained to eavesdrop not just on messages where at least one party is inside the country, but also for eavesdropping on messages between two parties overseas that pass through U.S. communications gear. Two officials familiar with the controversy, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive material, said that had the administration initially been candid about its antiterror surveillance plans, it could have worked with Congress years ago to tweak the FISA laws to account for the technological changes. One of the officials said the administration’s secretiveness had, in this case, created problems for antiterrorism efforts.
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Well maybe they were so sensitive because of all the damned leaks comming from dimwits such as Patrick (Leaky) Leahy?
This sort of thing brings up images of 1984 and George Orwell. No…Not to Republicans…to Democrats…
The MSM and the DailyKos kids are constantly ranting about nonsensical scenarios that do not exist. Yet when the Dems are in charge of the program, everything is hunky-dory.
The political power game continues to erode our national security capabilities and places our nation at further risk of another 9-11.
I want someone other than Lahey and the New York Times in charge of National Security. And I would like to see the leakers put in jail.
I would further like to see the idiotic 1978 Congressional hearings recommendations that were adopted abolished. It is time to untie the hands of the NSA and the CIA.
We lost a great deal of our mideast intelligence gathering capability with the loss of our Lebanon Bureau chief in 1983.
Bill Buckley was an outstanding covert operator and had every contact that we had in the middle east in his possesion. We lost that in the torture rooms of Syria and Iran….
And we are further losing capability over this unecessary paranoia comming from the left.
Unfortunately, emotion over substance or facts plays better in the media, than does the need for a robust national security program.
Hardware issues notwithstanding, Congress will never do the right thing. They are too busy playing head games and investigating non-crimes to get down to the business of protecting the country.
To those that remain paranoid, I say get back on your meds.
July 29th, 2007 at 2:58 pm“The gap is also partly a result of administration fumbling over legal authorization for eavesdropping by U.S. agencies.
Two officials familiar with the controversy, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive material, said that had the administration initially been candid about its antiterror surveillance plans, it could have worked with Congress years ago to tweak the FISA laws to account for the technological changes. One of the officials said the administration’s secretiveness had, in this case, created problems for antiterrorism efforts.”
No the gap is mainly a result of Dem whining about supposed domestic surveillance with the sole aim of discrediting the Bush administration.
July 29th, 2007 at 4:39 pmThe adminsistration could have worked with Congress years ago to tweak the FISA laws but there was no need. Nobody was concerned until the Dems took control of Congress and started their smear campaign through their demedia accomplices.
And Dan couldn’t be more correct. The Bush administrations supposed “secretiveness” (prudence would be a better term) was necessary based on the traitorous NY Times, WaPo, (and yes) Newsweek not to mention Dem members of Congress only too willing to publicize our national security measures.
This Newsweek article is nothing more than a CYA by Newsweek.
When one of the Bill Clinton appointees to the CIA/NSA leaked to the NYT in 2005 the existence of the warrantless wiretaps, Dem congresspersons had known all the details, had been briefed. But they started crying foul to appease their looney left base. The dem head of intelligence knows that if an attack occurs, he’s going to get the blame, so he’s scurrying trying to cover his rear right now. The MSM constantly puts up Jeffrey Toobin or some other left lawyer to cry about the “illegal warrantless wiretaps” and how the average American’s rights are being eroded. Yet, the Pres. has always had executive power to use for intelligence gathering, especially in wartime. The only Americans whose rights are being eroded are Toobin’s traitorous friends who want to leak national security secrets penalty free. They are afraid they are going to get caught on a warrantless wiretap doing so.
July 29th, 2007 at 9:24 pm