The Obama administration is pushing for the reauthorization of a law
allowing warrantless wiretaps and prolonging Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requests despite campaigning against such measures and promising
to be the most transparent administration ever.
In a statement of administration policy released Monday, the Obama administration announced it “strongly supports” reauthorizing the FISA Amendments Act, on which the House is expected to vote Wednesday. The act “allows the Intelligence Community to collect vital foreign intelligence information about international terrorists and other important targets overseas, while providing protection for the civil liberties and privacy of Americans,” according to the statement.
This is something of a turnaround for President Obama, who argued for a different policy while he was a candidate in 2008.
“As president,” Obama promised, he “would update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to provide greater oversight and accountability to the congressional intelligence committees to prevent future threats to the rule of law.”
The 2008 Democratic Party platform was harsher.
“We reject illegal wiretapping of American citizens, wherever they live,” the platform read. “We reject the use of national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime.”
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/fisa-fight/
In a statement of administration policy released Monday, the Obama administration announced it “strongly supports” reauthorizing the FISA Amendments Act, on which the House is expected to vote Wednesday. The act “allows the Intelligence Community to collect vital foreign intelligence information about international terrorists and other important targets overseas, while providing protection for the civil liberties and privacy of Americans,” according to the statement.
This is something of a turnaround for President Obama, who argued for a different policy while he was a candidate in 2008.
“As president,” Obama promised, he “would update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to provide greater oversight and accountability to the congressional intelligence committees to prevent future threats to the rule of law.”
The 2008 Democratic Party platform was harsher.
“We reject illegal wiretapping of American citizens, wherever they live,” the platform read. “We reject the use of national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime.”
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/fisa-fight/
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