Wiretap Debate Déjà Vu
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB178/index.htmDocuments show Ford White House embraced wiretap law instead of claiming "inherent"
Presidential authority in 1976 despite objections from Rumsfeld, G.H.W. Bush, Kissinger
Justice report on criminal liability for 1970s warrantless wiretapping, 1990s directives on US surveillance.
Washington, D.C., February 4, 2006 - Despite objections from then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and then-CIA director George H. W. Bush, President Gerald Ford came down on the side of a proposed federal law to govern wiretapping in 1976 instead of relying on the "inherent" authority of the President because the "pros" outweighed the "cons," according to internal White House documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and posted on the Web today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
After much debate, the Ford administration in 1976 decided to support legislation requiring a warrant for the government to conduct electronic surveillance within the U.S. for foreign intelligence purposes, according to this memorandum prepared for President Ford by his counsel, Philip Buchen.
White House counsel Philip Buchen described a Situation Room meeting on March 12, 1976 with Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Bush, national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, and attorney general Edward Levi (notably absent was White House chief of staff Richard Cheney) in which Buchen's and Levi's outline of the advantages of a wiretapping law reduced the "adamant opposition" to neutrality, allowing Levi to testify before Congress in favor of a wiretapping statute on March 29, 1976.
Buchen's talking points said the proposed law (ultimately enacted as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, or FISA) "avoids likelihood that … courts will eventually decide a warrant is required," "eliminates question of validity of evidence obtained," "protects cooperating communications carriers," and would not "materially inhibit surveillance of these kinds of targets."
On the "cons" side of his talking points, Buchen described exactly the arguments against such a law that the Bush administration has now adopted as the basis for its warrantless wiretapping: "requires resort to the judiciary for exercise of an inherent Executive power" and "could result in troublesome delays or even a denial of authority in particular cases."
"Yogi Berra was right, the current wiretapping debate is déjà vu all over again, except that President Bush has come down on the con side against the law," remarked Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive.
Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, President Gerald Ford and Deputy Chief of Staff Richard Cheney at the White House, April 28, 1975 (Photo: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library)
Today's posting also includes ..........
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB178/surv8a.pdfhttp://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB178/surv8b.pdfhttp://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB178/surv09a.pdfhttp://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB178/surv09b.pdf===========================
Electronic Surveillance
From the Cold War to Al-Qaeda
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 178
Edited by Jeffrey Richelson and Thomas Blanton
On December 16, 2005, The New York Times published a front-page story revealing that months after Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush formally authorized the National Security Agency to monitor telephone conversations and e-mails of Americans and other individuals, originating in the United States, without the court-approved warrants ............
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Documents
Note: The following documents are in PDF format. ......(40+ described documents linked).......
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