[Infowarrior] - Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.

[Richard Forno]

Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.
Congressional Critics Want More Assurances of Legality

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103
655_pf.html

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 12, 2008; A03

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the
nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing
challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will
activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in
stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and
homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage,
monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.

Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once
privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has
previously said the program will not intercept communications.

"There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient
to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans," Chertoff wrote to
Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairmen of
the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee,
respectively, in letters released yesterday.

"I think we've fully addressed anybody's concerns," Chertoff added in
remarks last week to bloggers. "I think the way is now clear to stand it up
and go warm on it."

His statements marked a fresh determination to operate the department's new
National Applications Office as part of its counterterrorism efforts. The
administration in May 2007 gave DHS authority to coordinate requests for
satellite imagery, radar, electronic-signal information, chemical detection
and other monitoring capabilities that have been used for decades within
U.S. borders for mapping and disaster response.

But Congress delayed launch of the new office last October. Critics cited
its potential to expand the role of military assets in domestic law
enforcement, to turn new or as-yet-undeveloped technologies against
Americans without adequate public debate, and to divert the existing
civilian and scientific focus of some satellite work to security uses.

Democrats say Chertoff has not spelled out what federal laws govern the NAO,
whose funding and size are classified. Congress barred Homeland Security
from funding the office until its investigators could review the office's
operating procedures and safeguards. The department submitted answers on
Thursday, but some lawmakers promptly said the response was inadequate.

"I have had a firsthand experience with the trust-me theory of law from this
administration," said Harman, citing the 2005 disclosure of the National
Security Agency's domestic spying program, which included warrantless
eavesdropping on calls and e-mails between people in the United States and
overseas. "I won't make the same mistake. . . . I want to see the legal
underpinnings for the whole program."

Thompson called DHS's release Thursday of the office's procedures and a
civil liberties impact assessment "a good start." But, he said, "We still
don't know whether the NAO will pass constitutional muster since no legal
framework has been provided."

DHS officials said the demands are unwarranted. "The legal framework that
governs the National Applications Office . . . is reflected in the
Constitution, the U.S. Code and all other U.S. laws," said DHS spokeswoman
Laura Keehner. She said its operations will be subject to "robust,"
structured legal scrutiny by multiple agencies.