Afraid to be seen as soft on terrorism, congressional Democrats appear ready to cave on civil liberties and grant the Bush administration broad eavesdropping powers. Pending Democratic legislation—yes Democratic legislation—would give broad eavesdropping authority to the National Security Agency (NSA) for several years. Similar legislation being drafted in the Senate could include retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies that aided the administration’s formerly-secret warrantless wiretap program.
Similar temporary legislation—the Protect America Act—was forced through just before the congressional recess last August. It carried a six month expiration date. The administration’s goal is to make it permanent and have even less oversight by the special foreign intelligence court. The House version of the draft bill would require the administration to disclose the legal reasoning for the program, include quarterly audits by the Justice Department’s inspector general, and would allow the foreign intelligence court to approve “umbrella” warrants in advance.
Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) told the New York Times that he “would vigorously oppose any effort to grant retroactive legal protection to telecommunications utilities.”
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