New Spy Chief wants expanded surveillance laws

National Intelligence Director [NID] Mike McConnell and already he knows that the spy agencies don't have enough power to properly eavesdrop on suspected spies and terrorists. From the Washington Post [via MSNBC]:

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has circulated a draft bill that would expand the government’s powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA], liberalizing how that law can be used.

Known as “FISA,” the 1978 law was passed to allow surveillance in espionage and other foreign intelligence investigations, but still allow federal judges on a secretive panel to ensure protections for U.S. citizens — at home or abroad — and other permanent U.S. residents.

The changes McConnell is seeking mostly affect a cloak-and-dagger category of warrants used to investigate suspected spies, terrorists and other national security threats. The court-approved surveillance could include planting listening devices and hidden cameras, searching luggage and breaking into homes to make copies of computer hard drives. [Snip]

According to officials familiar with the draft changes to FISA, McConnell wants to:

* Give the NSA the power to monitor foreigners without seeking FISA court approval, even if the surveillance is conducted by tapping phones and e-mail accounts in the United States. “Determinations about whether a court order is required should be based on considerations about the target of the surveillance, rather than the particular means of communication or the location from which the surveillance is being conducted,” NSA Director Keith Alexander told the Senate last year.
* Clarify the standards the FBI and NSA must use to get court orders for basic information about calls and e-mails — such as the number dialed, e-mail address, or time and date of the communications. Civil liberties advocates contend the change will make it too easy for the government to access this information.
* Triple the life span of a FISA warrant for a non-U.S. citizen from 120 days to one year, allowing the government to monitor much longer without checking back in with a judge.
* Give telecommunications companies immunity from civil liability for their cooperation with Bush’s terrorist surveillance program. Pending lawsuits against companies including Verizon and AT&T allege they violated privacy laws by giving phone records to the NSA for the program.
* Extend from 72 hours to one week the amount of time the government can conduct surveillance without a court order in emergencies.

McConnell, Alexander and a senior Justice Department official will appear at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on April 17 to discuss whether to amend the FISA law.

Since this is the same day Abu Gonzales is scheduled to testify to the Senate in an effort to keep his job, I hope this testimony isn't squeezed out of the news.

On a purely theoretical issue of organizational control, if you have well-trained people you trust doing a job that changes quickly you can sometimes exchange immediate approvals for action and replace most of the approvals with strong and independent reporting of actions after they are taken.

I'm not sure that I have the required trust of this administration generally, but if any of these proposals are approved, they should certainly be accompanied by a strong reporting scheme and followup audits by independent agencies at more frequent intervals than present. Then the Congress should schedule Hearings at the end of one year, two years and three years of operation regardless of what the followup reports and audits suggest, and perhaps more frequently if problems are demonstrated.