Domestic spying far outpaces terrorism prosecutions

[G_j]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-justice12-2008may12,0,4309444.story

Domestic spying far outpaces terrorism prosecutions
As more Americans are watched, fewer cases are made. The trend concerns civil liberties groups as well as some lawmakers and legal experts.
By Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 12, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and other records reviewed by the government has continued to increase as officials aggressively use powers approved after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court -- one measure of the effectiveness of such sleuthing -- has continued to decline, in some cases precipitously.

The trends, visible in new government data and a private analysis of Justice Department records, are worrisome to civil liberties groups and some legal scholars. They say it is further evidence that the government has compromised the privacy rights of ordinary citizens without much to show for it.

Chart: Warrants up, prosecutions down
The emphasis on spy programs also is starting to give pause to some members of Congress who fear the government is investing too much in anti-terrorism programs at the expense of traditional crime-fighting. Other lawmakers are raising questions about how well the FBI is performing its counter-terrorism mission.

The Senate Intelligence Committee last week concluded that the bureau was far behind in making internal changes to keep the nation safe from terrorist threats. Lawmakers urged that the FBI set specific benchmarks to measure its progress and make more regular reports to Congress.

These concerns come as the Bush administration has been seeking to expand its ability to gather intelligence without prior court approval. It has asked Congress for amendments to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to make it clear that eavesdropping on foreign telecommunications signals routed through the U.S. does not require a warrant.
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[G_j]

1. ==

[FreepFryer]

2. "eavesdropping on foreign telecom signals routed through the U.S. doesn't require a warrant"

BULLSHIT.

Here's an excellent re-cap from Marty Lederman's Balkanization:

It must be the case that the NSA's aim is not simply to surveil foreigners who it already suspects as being part of Al Qaeda. It can obtain a FISA order as to those folks. What it wants, instead, is to be able to intercept foreign communications coming over domestic wires where:
1. it does not have probable cause to believe that any of the parties is a terrorist or agent of a foreign power; and
2. there is a chance that some of the intercepted communications will be with persons in the U.S.

FISA does not allow surveillance where both of those conditions obtain. (Indeed, insofar as the surveillance picks up U.S. persons in such cases, without proof that either party is the agent of a foreign power, it would probably violate the Fourth Amendment, too, at least according to the pre-FISA cases that considered the question.)

http://balkin.blogspot.com/2007/08/fisa-fix.html

In this situation (datamining of massive streams of telecom) there IS no probable cause, and there's a real likelihood that those 'foreign telecommunications signals' could be with persons in the U.S.

FISA prohibits this - no clarification is needed, only enforcement and prosecution of those shown to willingly have violated the US Code.