Word: fisa
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...Correction: I was wrong to write last week that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would require a court approval of individual foreign surveillance targets. The bill does not explicitly say that. Republicans believe it can be interpreted that way, but Democrats don't. To read the disputed section of the bill, go to time.com/fisa....
...over the word "persons." Democrats cite a section of the law - which I mentioned in my Swampland post - that defines "persons" as "groups" or "entities." In other words, al-Qaeda could be considered a "person." Republicans - including a senior legal source in the intelligence community who deals with the FISA court regularly - believe that a judge can construe that to mean a review of individuals who have been targeted. This is the sort of dispute that is usually decided by a judge. - Joe Klein...
...That sort of clarity has been rare in the presidential campaign and almost totally nonexistent among the Democrats in Congress, who are being foolishly partisan on two key issues: continued funding for the war in Iraq and updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Iraq-funding issue is particularly difficult. Senator Carl Levin's proposal for a gradual troop withdrawal, starting now, is the right policy. Various Bush Administration officials - though none in the White House - have told me that a troop withdrawal is the best leverage we have for shoving the Iraqis into a national-reconciliation deal...
...Democratic strategy on the FISA legislation in the House is equally foolish. There is broad, bipartisan agreement on how to legalize the surveillance of phone calls and emails of foreign intelligence targets. The basic principle is this: if a suspicious pattern of calls from a terrorist suspect to a U.S. citizen is found, a FISA court warrant is necessary to monitor those communications. But to safeguard against civil-liberty abuses, all records of clearly nontargeted Americans who receive emails or phone calls from foreign suspects would be, in effect, erased. Unfortunately, Speaker Nancy Pelosi quashed the House Intelligence Committee...
...original version of this story, Joe Klein wrote that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would require a court approval of individual foreign surveillance targets. The bill does not explicitly say that. Republicans believe it can be interpreted that way, but Democrats...