Bill to authorize unchecked spying on U.S. citizens

A bill (National Security Surveillance Act of 2006 (S. 2453)) is making its way through congress that would give the executive branch the power to eavesdrop and wiretap US citizens completely at their discretion without oversight by any court. The ability for a government to spy on its own citizens is a serious power that should not be granted lightly, and only then with the proper justification and oversight. This bill would allow the executive branch to spy on its citizens completely at its discretion, without any oversight whatsoever.

As previously reported, the New York Times broke the story that President Bush authorized the NSA to wiretap U.S. citizens calling overseas without getting authorization from FISA. There are two legal ways for the government to wiretap U.S. citizens: they can obtain a warrant if they can demonstrate probable cause, or they can receive a FISA order from a FISA court. The FISA order is intended for cases where foreign powers are involved. On August 17th of 2006, the courts found that the President's secret spying program violated FISA, as well as the first and fourth ammendments of the constitution. So now Arlen Spectre and the Bush administration are trying to rewrite the laws to make this unchecked spying legal.

There have been countless examples throughout history of governments using the power to spy on their own citizens to stay in power and suppress political dissent. It is the foundation for fascist and police states throughout history. In the U.S., Hoover's FBI spied on US citizens for political gain and to collect material for blackmail, and Nixon's campaign spied on the Democratic National Committee for political gain. It cannot be said that any portion of the U.S. government is above abusing these powers. The only way to guard against these abuses is to have clear standards under which the goverment is allowed to spy on its citizens, and to have oversight by the other branches of government. This is precisely what the Fourth Amendment and FISA give us, and precisely what the Bush administration seeks to dismantle.

More information:

• OMB Watch article on the bill
  
• National Security Surveillance Act of 2006 (S. 2453) in PDF format
  
• Wikipedia entry on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
• ACLU article on the Senate Judiciary Committee approving the bill
• ACLU page on illegal NSA spying
• Wikipedia entry on the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
  

If you think limiting when the government can spy on its citizens is important, this is the time to act:

• Let congress know this is important to you. Use this form to send a message to your lawmakers.
  
• If you aren't already a member, join the ACLU. The ACLU is chartered with protecting your rights as established in the constitution and bill of rights. If there's a more American organization than the ACLU, I don't know of it.
• Spread the word: Tell a couple people you know about what is happening