Congress: Another cave-in on civil liberties in the works

Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers

by Eric Lichtblau and Carl Hulse (New York Times, 2007-10-09)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 — Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.

As the debate over the eavesdropping powers of the National Security Agency begins anew this week, the emerging measures reflect the reality confronting the Democrats.

Although willing to oppose the White House on the Iraq war, they remain nervous that they will be called soft on terrorism if they insist on strict curbs on gathering intelligence.

A Democratic bill to be proposed on Tuesday in the House would maintain for several years the type of broad, blanket authority for N.S.A eavesdropping that the administration secured in August for six months.

In an acknowledgment of concerns over civil liberties, the bill would require a more active role by the special foreign intelligence court that oversees the interception of foreign-based communications by the security agency.

A competing proposal in the Senate, still being drafted, may be even closer in line with the administration plan, with the possibility of including retroactive immunity for telecommunications utilities that participated in the once-secret program to eavesdrop without court warrants.

The rest of the story: The New York Times

Intelligence: Bush and bin Laden

Far From Declining, Al Qaeda Has Rebuilt, With Fresh Faces and a Vigorous Media Arm

by Hal Brown (Capital Hill Blue, 2007-09-09)

Is it too much to hope that Bush will read the long Washington Post front page article about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda? Would spending ten - okay 30 - minutes reading about this most dangerous of world leaders and his mercurial country (aka al Qaeda) be too much of an effort for him? If Bush really believes "we are fighting them there (Iraq) so we don't have to fight them here," he needs a stiff dose of reality.

The rest of the story:

The New Al Qaeda Central by Craig Whitlock (The Washington Post, 2007-09-09)
Hal Brown's commentary (Capital Hill Blue 2007-09-10)

The War on Terror: Report blasts U.S. for failures in fighting terrorism

CNN reports:

A just-released report slams the federal government for failing to coordinate the work of U.S. law enforcement agencies overseas to fight terrorism.

The Government Accountability Office found that in one country a lack of clarity about the roles and responsibilities of the FBI and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency may have compromised several investigations intended to identify and disrupt potential terrorist activities.

The GAO did not name the country in its report.

The White House has long issued directives asking that U.S. law enforcement agencies assist foreign nations' anti-terrorism efforts.

But the report finds that embassy and law enforcement officials told the GAO "they had received little or no guidance" on how to accomplish that.

The issue of roles and responsibilities "remains unresolved and is still subject to ongoing debates within the administration," it said.

The 2003 National Strategy for Combating Terrorism instructed the State Department to develop and coordinate U.S. counterterrorism policy abroad, but the report says that was not done.

The 2004 Intelligence Reform Act shifted that responsibility to the National Counterterrorism Center and, although a general plan has been drafted, it has not yet been implemented.

"As a result of these weaknesses, LEAs [law enforcement agencies], a key element of national power, are not being fully used abroad to protect U.S. citizens and interest from future terrorist attacks," the GAO concluded.

The rest of the story: CNN