Intelligence Committees Still Trying to Force Agencies to Follow Reagan's Rules
34 years ago Ronald Reagan issued the Executive Order that still governs most of our country's intelligence activities, EO 12333.
As part of it, the EO required any agency using information concerning US persons to have a set of procedures…
A Brief History of the PATRIOT Reauthorization Debate
I wanted to provide some background of how we got to this week's PATRIOT Reauthorization debate to explain what I believe the surveillance boosters are really aiming for. Rather than a response to Edward Snowden, I think it is more useful to…
Feinstein Enters the Non-Compromise Compromise Fray (Working Thread)
Dianne Feinstein is the latest member of Congress to offer a non-compromise compromise to replace the compromise USA F-ReDux, this time with a bill that would:
Impose a 2-year data mandate in some cases (which would affect Apple and Verizon…
Why Does Richard Burr Think It Will Take Four Times Longer To Set Up a Metadata Compliance System than a Content One?
On November 8, 2007, Yahoo received its first order to comply with the Protect America Act, the original law authorizing PRISM. Yahoo immediately told DOJ it would challenge the order. On May 12, 2008 -- even as Yahoo appealed FISC's order to…
Devin Nunes Will Let Dragnet Lapse So Mitch McConnell Can Save Face?!?!
NYT has a remarkable article describing how a number of hawks are willing to risk letting PATRIOT Act authorities lapse so Mitch McConnell can save face.
Senior lawmakers are scrambling this week in rare recess negotiations to agree on a face-saving…
I'm Shocked, Shocked, to Find that Lying Is Going on in the Senate
As I noted here, given the content of the radical bill Richard Burr introduced on Friday, it appears likely that his claim Section 215 sIpported an IP dragnet was no misstatement, as he claimed when I called him on it. But that -- and the misstatements…
Mitch McConnell Suggests He Wants a Bulk Document Collection System
On May 7, the very same day the Second Circuit ruled that Congress has to say specifically what a surveillance bill means for the bill to mean that thing, Richard Burr engaged in a staged colloquy on the Senate floor where he claimed that…
Mitch McConnell and Richard Burr's Authoritarian Power Grab Fails
Last night, Mitch McConnell dealt himself a humiliating defeat. As I correctly predicted a month before events played out, McConnell tried to create a panic that would permit him and Richard Burr to demand changes -- including iMessage retention,…
Working Thread Burr's 11 Bullet Points
Update May 31: I'm doing a second read of the bill and will put new things I find here in correct page order. I've corrected any previous errors I made with strike through.
Richard Burr finally released the bill he pulled out of his ass.…
The Section 215 Rap Sheet
Marco Rubio, who is running for President as an authoritarian, claims that "There is not a single documented case of abuse of this program."
He's not alone. One after another defender of the dragnet make such claims. FBI witnesses who were…
Comey's Emphasis on Expiring PATRIOT Provisions: Other 215 Uses and Roving Wiretaps
A number of outlets have reported that, in an appearance Wednesday at Georgetown, Jim Comey suggested the other PATRIOT Act provisions expiring on June 1, not Section 215, are the critical ones. Here's one example:
In a speech Wednesday,…
Finally! That Person Who Claims Section 215 Involves Interception of Communications!
For two years, a key pushback strategy against those complaining about the phone dragnet program collecting records of every single American has been to falsely claim that opponents of the dragnet were claiming the dragnet collected content.
Of…
1,800 Day Old DOJ IG Report Working Thread: "Gigabytes of Metadata and Other Electronic Information"
As I noted, DOJ's Inspector General has finally liberated the report on Section 215 use through 2009 that it finished almost a year ago. The key takeaway is that FBI continued to blow off privacy protections required by Congress in 2006 until…
DOJ IG Report Confirms Government Flouted Statutory Requirements of Section 215 for 7 Years
For over a year, Congress has been working on a "reform" to Section 215 that it claims will rein in abusive government spying.
Also for about a year, DOJ's Inspector General has been trying to release a Report on Section 215 use up to 2009.…
The Paul Filibuster
As some of you were live-commenting yesterday, Rand Paul conducted a 10.5 hour filibuster of the USA F-ReDux last night.
A lot of journalists are calling it meaningless. But it may not be. As Sunlight Foundation explains, by occupying the…
Will Gary Peters Help Mitch McConnell Expand Illegal Surveillance?
A year ago, Michigan Senator Gary Peters voted with 302 of his House colleagues for that version of USA Freedom Act (the incarnation I called USA Freedumb). He voted for a badly flawed bill (perhaps looking forward to his Senate campaign), but…
Mitch McConnell Prepares to Reject a 6-Month Window to Set Up Dragnet Replacement
The surveillance hawks are out feeding the propaganda machine.
First there's Eli Lake claiming that, if Congress were to pass legislation newly immunizing and compensating providers to conduct two-hop spying on Americans, most of whom would…
GOP Brought in Guy Who Authorized Dragnet to Talk Dragnets
I'm far more alarmed by this tidbit in the latest report on the fight over USA F-ReDux than many who are commenting on it.
McConnell's presser came following Senate lunches, during which former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served under…
USA F-ReDux Is Non-Exclusive, but the Second Circuit Might Be
I'm still trying to figure out WTF Mitch McConnell is doing with his Senate machinations over USA F-ReDux. Currently, he has both his short-term reauthorization and USA F-ReDux prepped for a vote, which probably means he'll bring USA F-ReDux…
Fifty Shades of Fake University Degrees
On Sunday, Declan Walsh delivered a blockbuster report on the vast network of fake univeristies, diplomas for purchase and high-pressure upsales of "validation" credentials for fraudulently purchased diplomas. Remarkably, the company in which…