Thursday, March 13, 2008
White House Threatens Surveillance Bill Veto
WASHINGTON -- In a fresh veto threat, the Bush administration said Wednesday that surveillance legislation proposed by House Democrats has the potential to do ''catastrophic damage'' to national security.
The bill does not give legal protection to telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11.
Already about 40 lawsuits have been combined and now are before a federal judge in California.
The Democrats' measure would encourage the judge to review in private the secret documents underpinning the program to decide whether the companies acted lawfully.
The administration has prevented those documents from being revealed, even to a judge, by invoking the state secrets privilege. That puts the companies in a bind because they are unable to defend themselves in suits that allege they violated wiretapping and privacy laws.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey and National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell wrote in a 10-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that subversion of the state secrets privilege ''has the potential to do catastrophic damage to our national security across a wide spectrum.''
They said the Senate Intelligence Committee found that the companies believed they were acting lawfully and at the request of the president, and therefore should be protected from suits.
Nineteen Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sought to counter that argument.
''We have concluded that the administration has not established a valid and credible case justifying the extraordinary action of Congress enacting blanket retroactive immunity as set forth in the Senate bill,'' they said in a statement issued by the committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
They said they have seen no evidence that suits have harmed the telecommunications companies' reputations or finances, or that intelligence gathering has been compromised.
The House was expected to vote on the bill on Thursday. Were it to pass, the legislation would need Senate approval. But senators probably would make their own adjustments, said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
WASHINGTON -- In a fresh veto threat, the Bush administration said Wednesday that surveillance legislation proposed by House Democrats has the potential to do ''catastrophic damage'' to national security.
The bill does not give legal protection to telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11.
Already about 40 lawsuits have been combined and now are before a federal judge in California.
The Democrats' measure would encourage the judge to review in private the secret documents underpinning the program to decide whether the companies acted lawfully.
The administration has prevented those documents from being revealed, even to a judge, by invoking the state secrets privilege. That puts the companies in a bind because they are unable to defend themselves in suits that allege they violated wiretapping and privacy laws.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey and National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell wrote in a 10-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that subversion of the state secrets privilege ''has the potential to do catastrophic damage to our national security across a wide spectrum.''
They said the Senate Intelligence Committee found that the companies believed they were acting lawfully and at the request of the president, and therefore should be protected from suits.
Nineteen Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sought to counter that argument.
''We have concluded that the administration has not established a valid and credible case justifying the extraordinary action of Congress enacting blanket retroactive immunity as set forth in the Senate bill,'' they said in a statement issued by the committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
They said they have seen no evidence that suits have harmed the telecommunications companies' reputations or finances, or that intelligence gathering has been compromised.
The House was expected to vote on the bill on Thursday. Were it to pass, the legislation would need Senate approval. But senators probably would make their own adjustments, said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
