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Protect America Act Debate: Truth or Fear Mongering?

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

We all should be very scared -- very, very scared.

Beginning Saturday, those living on American soil are likely to suffer a "horrendous act." That's what Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told Americans on Friday.

The reason is that the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives won't re-authorize President Bush's warrantless spying powers, which are expiring Saturday. The Senate did days ago, and even agreed to immunize telecommunications companies from lawsuits for assisting the administration.

"More than likely we would miss the very information we need to prevent some horrendous act from taking place in the United States," McConnell said.

President Bush has some bone chilling things to say as well. After the House on Wednesday refused to follow the Senate's footsteps and re-authorize the Protect America Act, which sunsets Saturday, the chief executive said Americans' lives were hanging in the balance.

"At this moment, somewhere in the world terrorists are planning new attacks on our country," the president said. "Their goal is to bring destruction to our shores that will make Sept. 11 pale by comparison."

And on Friday, hours before the Protect America Act expires, Bush reiterated the point. "By blocking this piece of legislation, our country is more in danger of an attack," he said.

The verbiage from McConnell, Bush and a string of Republican lawmakers is, to say the least, frightening. The words are scary because they portend the end of civilization, as we know it.

Has Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker from San Francisco, doomed us all?

Pelosi countered that the president was "misrepresenting the facts on our nation's electronic surveillance capabilities."

Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who heads the House Democratic Caucus, said Friday that "This is not about protecting Americans. The president just wants to protect American telephone companies."

But what if Pelosi, Emanuel and other Democrats are wrong? What if Bush and company are telling the truth? What if it isn't fear mongering?

The Bush believers, however, are not flocking across the border. Do they not believe him?

With the nation on the brink of destruction with Saturday's deadline looming, many Republican and Democratic lawmakers have left Washington and returned to their home districts for a 12-day Presidents' Day recess.

Perhaps the headlines of the pending apocalypse are simply headlines -- a regurgitation of post 9-11 political theater, and devoid of any real meaning to those who bother to read them.

At bottom, the debate is whether the nation's intelligence-gathering agencies need warrants -- from a secret court -- to snoop on suspected terrorists via telecommunication facilities within the United States. Starting on Saturday, the law brokered last year authorizing warrantless searches expires.

But such warrantless spying has already occurred in a program the Bush administration authorized following the Sept. 11 attacks. The president, as chief commander, maintains the Constitution grants him such powers notwithstanding the Fourth Amendment.

We all should be very scared -- very, very scared.

Photo slagheap

See Also:

• Senate Approves Telco Amnesty, Legalizes Bush's Secret Spy Program
• Bush Administration Appeals Patriot Act Ruling
• House Debating Spying Extension to Give Negotiators Time
• World's Top Surveillance Societies -- Updated with link
• House Rejects Spy Bill Extension, Setting Stage for Adoption of ...
• Surveillance Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means
• Time Columnist Joe Klein Gets Wiretapping Debate Wrong a Third Time

Full post as published by Threat Level on February 15, 2008 (boomark / email).