Congressional Sneak Attack—–Extending Patriot Act As Rider On “USA Freedom Act”Yet with Section 215’s lifespan now stretching to a matter of weeks, supporters of broad surveillance powers have yet to put forth a bill for their preservation – evidence, opponents believe, that the votes for reauthorization do not exist, particularly not in the House of Representatives. – From the Guardian article: NSA and FBI Fight to Retain Spy Powers as Surveillance Law Nears Expiration June 1, 2015 is a very important day for American civil liberties and the Constitution. On that day, Section 215 of the Patriot Act, one of the most egregious pieces of legislation passed in U.S. history, will expire automatically without reauthorization from Congress. Naturally, this is causing a panic attack within the heart of the NSA, FBI and all the authoritarian lackey legislators in Washington D.C. With the chances of a clean reauthorization next to none, these crafty “representatives” and their puppeteers need to figure out a way to sneak it into another piece of legislation. What better way to do this than making it a part of something that ostensibly appears to be reining in surveillance powers. Enter the USA Freedom Act. The USA Freedom Act is nothing new. A version of it passed the House last spring, before dying in the Senate. Rand Paul surprised many people by saying he would not support it because it didn’t go far enough. Additionally, one of its key cosponsors ultimately failed to support his own bill. I covered this in the post, Congress Guts Anti-NSA Spying Bill Beyond Recognition; Original Cosponsor Justin Amash Votes No. Here’s an excerpt: Rep. Amash is 34 years old and was first elected to Congress in 2010. He has been on my radar screen for several years now as one of the few elected representatives who act more like statesmen than politicians. He has been on the right side of many civil liberties related issues, including his opposition to the NDAA’s provision that allows for the indefinite detention of American citizens without a trial. More recently, last summer he authored an anti-NSA amendment known as the “Amash Amendment,” which was defeated by establishment authoritarians in both political parties. I covered that story in my post: NSA Holds “Top Secret” Meeting to Stop Powerful Anti-Spying Amendment. In the end, what the status quo did was water down the once robust USA Freedom Act into oblivion.Well the USA Freedom Act is back, and it appears to be the vehicle being used to reauthorize Section 215 of the Patriot Act. This story is extremely important, and serves as a great example of how tricky it can be to know what’s actually going on. I spend nearly 100% of my time trying to stay informed about the world around me, yet I’m constantly surprised by how little I know. For people who don’t have the time or energy to try to stay informed, forget about it. The media is generally worthless, and will more often than not mislead you, even if it’s unintentional. To prove my point, I will highlight two separate articles on the latest version of the USA Freedom Act. Let’s start with the National Journal article titled, Congress to Introduce Last-Ditch Bill to Reform NSA Spying. The caption underneath the main title states: With the clock winding down, lawmakers in both chambers are staging one last attempt to rein in the government’s surveillance powers. Come again? Is that really what’s happening here. First, let’s read a few excerpts from the piece: April 17, 2015 Backed up against a rapidly approaching do-or-die deadline, bipartisan lawmakers are poised to introduce legislation next week that would roll back the National Security Agency’s expansive surveillance powers.The above paragraph is very misleading. The deadline in play here is to ensure that the Patriot Act provisions are reauthorized, not for reforming surveillance. What a bizarre way to frame this. Despite the obstacles, aides close to negotiations believe they have enough momentum to push the legislation through Congress fast enough for the president to sign it by June 1. The White House said last year it was supportive of the reform package.This is the first hint something might be up. If Obama likes it, it’s bound to be either useless or tyrannical. A version of the Freedom Act passed the House last spring 303-121 before a more comprehensive package died in the lame-duck Senate, falling just two vote shorts of the filibuster-proof 60 needed to advance. All but four Republicans rallied to block the measure due to fears it could bolster terrorist activity, despite wide-ranging support from tech companies, privacy advocates, the White House, and even senior members of the intelligence community.Once again, this is very misleading, if not downright false. Yes a few Republicans blocked it for those reasons, but Rand Paul refused to support it because it didn’t go far enough. The fact that this isn’t mentioned is extremely irresponsible. The defeat was seen as a crushing blow to the post-Snowden movement to overhaul the nation’s sweeping surveillance apparatus—a sting made worse by the GOP takeover of the Senate.This is 100% not true. Many civil liberties advocates thought the final bill was so watered down as to become worthless. Recall that earlier I noted how one of the original cosponsors, Justin Amash, couldn’t support the final bill because it was so weak. But instead of giving up, lawmakers began a new process earlier this year, believing they had one last shot at enacting strong reforms before the Patriot Act sunset.Yes, John Boehner claimed it thwarted a terrorist attack. What he failed to mention was that this terrorist attack was actually an attack dreamed up by the FBI itself. They didn’t stop anything from happening that they didn’t manufacture in the first place. [See: Manufactured Terrorism – U.S. Officials Claim Credit for Stopping Another Terror Attack Created by the FBI.] If the only article you read on the latest version of the USA Freedom Act was this National Journal article, I couldn’t blame you for thinking that it was a valiant piece of legislation put forth by civil liberties activists fighting to rein in the NSA. Unfortunately, the truth seems to be closer to the USA Freedom Act being used as a vehicle by which to reauthorize Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Considering the fact that the NSA, FBI and White House all seem to be lobbying for it, it’s probably a very bad piece of legislation. As Spencer Ackerman at the Guardian informs us in the more appropriately titled, NSA and FBI Fight to Retain Spy Powers as Surveillance Law Nears Expiration, we learn that: With about 45 days remaining before a major post-9/11 surveillance authorization expires, representatives of the National Security Agency and the FBI are taking to Capitol Hill to convince legislators to preserve their sweeping spy powers.Again, any bill supported by Obama and the intelligence agencies is guaranteed to be worthless. It would be more appropriately named the NSA Freedom Act. While the briefings were not described as a platform for defending the controversial Section 215, they “offer an important opportunity to hear directly from analysts and operators who use Section 215 as part of their daily mission to protect the Nation from terrorist attacks,” according to an announcement for legislators sent by intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes and Georgia Republican Lynn Westmoreland and obtained by the Guardian.They don’t know how to pass reauthorization, so they are trying to sneak it in. Advocates of the bill in both congressional chambers, including its original architects, have been laboring for eight weeks in marathon negotiations to revive the USA Freedom Act. The revived bill would extend the expiring provisions of the Patriot Act for a still-undetermined number of years – essentially staking out the center of the 2015-era surveillance debate for a bill that would take NSA out of the domestic bulk-collection business.On the other hand, a real NSA reform bill has been introduced into Congress, see: Meet the “Surveillance State Repeal Act” – A Bipartisan Bill to Fully Repeal the Patriot Act. Yet, this one has almost no chance of passing. Why? Because it’s the real deal. Source URL |