Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

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US Senate OKs Spying Bill, Despite Privacy Worries

Bipartisan vote gives thumbs-up to reauthorization of FISA surveillance program

(Newser) - Barely missing its midnight deadline, the Senate voted early Saturday to reauthorize a key US surveillance law after divisions over whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans' data nearly forced the statute to lapse. The legislation approved 60-34 with bipartisan support would extend...

FBI Chief Warns of Potential Attack Amid FISA Fight

After Wednesday's chaos, House Republicans may now see a path forward

(Newser) - FBI Director Christopher Wray warned Thursday of "the potential for a coordinated attack" in the US, similar to the ISIS-K attack that killed more than 140 people in Russia last month. Wray told lawmakers he was "hard-pressed to think of a time [during my law enforcement career] where...

Johnson Faces Revolt Over Spy Tool Reauthorization

Trump urges Republicans to 'kill FISA'

(Newser) - A bill that would reauthorize a crucial national security surveillance program was blocked Wednesday by a conservative revolt, pushing the prospects of final passage into uncertainty amid a looming deadline. The legislative impasse followed an edict earlier in the day from Donald Trump to "kill" the measure. The procedural...

Trump on the 'Memo': 'A Lot of People Should Be Ashamed'
Reax to the 'Memo':
'Headed Down a
Dangerous Path'
THE RUNDOWN
Feb 2, 2018 1:40 PM CST

Reax to the 'Memo': 'Headed Down a Dangerous Path'

Trump declassifies Nunes memorandum, frenetic spin on both sides ensues

(Newser) - Citing "extraordinary" circumstances, the much-anticipated GOP memo on alleged FBI surveillance abuse was given the all-clear Friday by the White House, which declassified the memo without redactions "in light of the significant public interest" in it, per a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes. At the...

House Renews Warrantless Surveillance Powers

Despite Trump tweeting against bill officially supported by White House

(Newser) - Despite some presidential Twitter drama, the House voted to extend the government's powers of warrantless surveillance another six years on Tuesday with a 256-164 vote, the Hill reports. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows the NSA to collect from US companies texts and emails of foreign...

Judge Blasted NSA for Violating Constitution

Secret 2011 court ruling declassified

(Newser) - It turns out 100% of the wrath directed at the NSA over its surveillance practices has not occurred in 2013. Major outlets are reporting that the agency was taken to task by the chief judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2011 for time and again misleading the court—...

NSA Gets to Decide Who's Foreign
NSA Gets to Decide Who's Foreign
Jun 21, 2013 7:58 AM CDT

NSA Gets to Decide Who's Foreign

New documents reveal rules on surveillance targets

(Newser) - For weeks, President Obama and other senior officials have touted the special FISA court as a safeguard on NSA surveillance. Well, the Guardian and Washington Post have obtained top-secret documents submitted to and approved by that court that outline the rules and limits placed on the program. How reassuring they...

Supreme Court Rules No Challenges to FISA

Surveillance law, wiretaps stand, 5-4

(Newser) - Is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the warrantless wiretapping of US citizens it allows for, constitutional? We may never know, because the Supreme Court just ruled that the law can't be challenged in federal court. In a 5-4 decision, the court today agreed to a government request to...

Wait, American Lives Are Worth More Than Others'?
Wait, American Lives Are Worth More Than Others'?
desmond tutu
Feb 13, 2013 12:22 PM CST

Wait, American Lives Are Worth More Than Others'?

Desmond Tutu compares US drone mindset to apartheid, slavery

(Newser) - Desmond Tutu has unloaded on the Obama White House in a letter to the editor in the New York Times , drawing a parallel to the US war on terror with both slavery and apartheid. Tutu was set off by a story this week saying the US might set up a...

Yoo: Wiretaps Were Legal and Necessary
Yoo: Wiretaps Were Legal and Necessary
OPINION
Jul 16, 2009 7:24 AM CDT

Yoo: Wiretaps Were Legal and Necessary

President had right to violate 'obsolete' FISA, Bush lawyer writes

(Newser) - Last week the inspectors general of the Justice Department, CIA, and other agencies suggested the Bush administration violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, singling out lawyer John Yoo for memos justifying warrantless wiretapping. Yoo defends himself today in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, writing that FISA was "an obsolete...

House Rejects Immunity for Telecoms Again

Lawmakers OK surveillance bill, brush off threat of Bush veto

(Newser) - The House again spurned President Bush today, passing a version of an anti-terrorism surveillance bill that does not grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that participated in the government's warrantless-wiretapping program. The vote was 213-197, far less than the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised presidential veto, Reuters...

Bush Urges Congress to Pass Surveillance Bill
Bush Urges Congress
to Pass Surveillance Bill
UPDATED
Feb 28, 2008 9:29 AM CST

Bush Urges Congress to Pass Surveillance Bill

Threat growing as House holds up bill over immunity for telecoms, prez charges

(Newser) - President Bush urged Congress this morning to pass an update to the terrorist surveillance bill that expired more than a week ago, CNN reports. Bush said the delay poses "a risk of opening a gap in our intelligence gathering." The bill stalled in the House over a provision...

Bush Blasts Lawmakers for Neglecting Bills

Prez demands funding for Iraq; Reid slams ultimatum

(Newser) - Lawmakers returned from Thanksgiving break today to face a scolding from President Bush over a number of unfinished bills, the Washington Post reports. Chiefly, Bush blasted them for stalling on Iraq funding—he wants $50 billion—as he cited “surge” success and warned of defense department layoffs if Congress...

AG Mukasey Sics Justice Probers on Wiretap Program

Surprise investigation signals new independence from White house

(Newser) - New Attorney General Michael Mukasey has named the Justice Department 's first investigative target: the Justice Department. Mukasey has reopened an internal probe of the role played by the agency's own attorneys in the controversial post-911warrantless wiretap program, reports the Wall Street Journal. The move is a key signal that...

Expect Less Privacy, Intelligence Official Says

Battle for anonymity can't be won in the Internet age, Kerr argues

(Newser) - Americans need to redefine their idea of privacy, Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald Kerr said today, as Congress reviewed an August FISA revision that allows warrantless eavesdropping. “Protecting anonymity isn't a fight that can be won,” Kerr says, arguing that, after giving information away on MySpace, or...

Bush Signs Law Expanding Wiretap Powers

Legalizes tapping calls and emails in and out of US without warrant

(Newser) - President Bush signed into law yesterday measures significantly expanding the government's authority to eavesdrop on millions of phone calls and e-mails going in and out of the US without warrants. The law, passed by Congress after bruising battles, effectively legalizes secret surveillance being conducted by a controversial National Security Agency...

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