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Multi-agency report questions presidential warrantless wiretapping program

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program, known as the President's Surveillance Program (PSP), relied on a flawed legal analysis at its inception and produced results of questionable effectiveness, according to an unclassified version of a report released Friday by five government agencies. The report, prepared by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Office of National Intelligence, says that agency officials had "difficulty evaluating the precise contribution of the PSP to counterterrorism efforts because it was most often viewed as one source among many available ..." despite the "unprecedented collection activities" that the program entailed. The report also cited lack of awareness of the program and the poor quality of the information it produced that has been described by receiving officers as vague. The report closed by recommending careful monitoring of any retained information collected under the PSP. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Legislative Counsel Michelle Richardson emphasized "that the power Congress authorized with the Amendments Act is even broader than the illegal program the Bush administration was conducting, and is most likely just as ineffective. Giving up the Fourth Amendment for an ineffective program is a double slap in the face of Americans." The ACLU filed a lawsuit against leaders of the US intelligence community in July 2008, challenging the constitutionality of the newly-amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The amended bill passed in 2008 also granted the FISA court authority to review a wider range of wiretapping orders, prohibited the executive branch from overriding the court's authority, and ordered the DOJ and other agencies to issue this latest report on the country's use of wiretapping orders.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on July 12, 2009 (boomark / email).