What you say, what you write...They've got it...

From Secrecy News:

DoJ: NEW SURVEILLANCE LAW COULD BE "MISCONSTRUED"

Critics of the new Protect America Act who wonder if it will be used to
conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans have misunderstood the
legislation, according to a Department of Justice official, but he also
admitted the law may be susceptible to such a misunderstanding.

"Contrary to some reports, the new legislation does nothing to change
FISA's prohibition against targeting a person in the United States for
surveillance without a court order," said Assistant Attorney General
Kenneth L. Wainstein at a hearing of the House Intelligence Committee
last week.

At the same time, he indicated that ambiguities in the language of the
law may lend themselves to just such an interpretation.

"To the extent that the statute could be construed to allow
acquisitions of domestic communications, we would be willing to
consider alternative language," Mr. Wainstein said in his prepared
statement (at page 10).

A copy of Mr. Wainstein's September 6 statement is here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/090607wainstein.pdf

The text of his oral remarks is here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/090607wainstein-oral.pdf

The ambiguities in the Protect America Act are far more extensive than
what has yet been officially acknowledged, according to Morton H.
Halperin of the Open Society Institute. (The Open Society Institute
helps fund Secrecy News.)

"Congress enacted legislation the meaning of which is simply not
deducible from the words in the text," he told the House Judiciary
Committee last week.

Will the new law "lead to the interception of phone calls and emails
that the intelligence community should not be reading"?

"I have no idea if that is the case or not but neither does anyone else
in the public and most of the Congress," said Mr. Halperin. "That very
uncertainty is simply unacceptable and a threat to both our liberty and
our security."

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/090507halperin.pdf

[Use links above to continue reading]

Wrap...