The United States needs a Senator like Frank Church once again to restore the original purpose of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
My former boss and mentor, Senator Frank Church, led the Senate investigation of Executive branch abuses of civil liberties back in 1975 - 1976 as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Intelligence.
His oversight was badly needed.
Among the findings of the Church Committee:
- The FBI had created files on over 1 million Americans and carried out over 500,000 investigations of "subversives" from 1960-74 without a single conviction.
- The CIA had opened the mail to and from selected American citizens which generated 1.5 million names in the Agency's computer bank known as "Operation Chaos"
- The National Security Agency (NSA) computers had monitored every cable sent or received overseas by Americans from 1947-75.
- Army intelligence units had conducted investigations against 100,000 U.S. citizens during the Vietnam War era.
- The Internal Revenue Service had allowed tax information to be misused by intelligence agencies for political purposes.
- The FBI's counterintelligence program (Cointelpro) had harassed civil rights activities, including Dr. Martin Luther King and Vietnam War dissidents.
The Church Committee's investigations resulted in the creation of a permanent Senate Committee on Intelligence, and the passage of substantial legislation, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in 1978.
Church's work is now being shredded by the Bush Administration.
FISA established a legal framework for electronic eavesdropping at home, including a special FISA court. It was originally passed to allow the government to collect intelligence involving communications with "agents of foreign powers."
The Bush Administration exploited this narrow exception in the passage of the Patriot Act that allows use of FISA to obtain personal records from many sources including libraries and internet service providers, even when they have no connection to terrorism.
Even worse, the Bush Administration now uses FISA to get around the constitutional requirement of seeking a warrant before it eavesdrops on communications by the NSA.
Congress even condoned this abuse of power in passing the "Protect America Act" (also known as "Police America Act") that expires in February 2008.
Legislation currently under consideration - The Restore Act - is a further erosion of individual liberties because it goes beyond individual warrants allowing "basket warrants." A true restoration of our individual liberties will not permit "basket warrants." This provision needs to be fixed and fixed correctly. While there is a split in the civil liberties community about the basket provisions, I don't believe we should settle for just an improvement in existing law. We need real protection.
When I am elected to the Senate, I will demand an end to the abuse of FISA and a return to the checks and balances espoused by Frank Church and the Church Committee.
As a former Congressman, Frank Church staff member, and U.S. Army intelligence office, I will help lead the way back from the civil liberty abuses of this administration.
The New York Times editorial on 11/14/07 pointed out the loopholes in the "Police America Act" and encouraged members of Congress to close those loopholes when the legislation is up for renewal. Yes, indeed.
As Senator, I will return Idaho's representation to the Frank Church values in keeping big government and secret government out of American's personal lives. As another mentor, former Interior Secretary and Governor Cecil Andrus, stated it many times: Idahoans want the Federal government off their back, but by their sides."
(Cross-posted at Daily Kos)