[Infowarrior] - Republicans Warn Against NSA Changes

[Richard Forno]

(surprise, surprise.   Same old fear-based rationales. ---rick)

Republicans Warn Against NSA Changes
By Janet Hook and Sarah Portlock

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/11/republicans-warn-against-nsa-changes/

Some senior Republicans in Congress on Sunday threw cold water on a cornerstone of  President Barack Obama’s plan to revamp the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs–his proposal to provide a new advocate for privacy concerns.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) raised questions about the proposal, which would add an advocate in the proceedings of the secret court that oversees the agency’s sweeping phone-data collection. He said he feared it would slow down antiterrorism efforts when time is of the essence.

Mr. McCaul, who dealt with these issues as a counterterrorism prosecutor, said changes like those Mr. Obama proposed would “slow down the efficacy and efficiency of our counterterrorism investigation.”

“I don’t think that’s the right way to go,” Mr. McCaul said, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Also expressing concern about the proposal was Rep. Pete King (R., N.Y.), a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee. He said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that it would be “very impractical” in cases where decisions have to be made quickly for terrorism investigations.

“We cannot afford to have this become a debating society,” said Mr. King. “We need decisions made quickly, yes or no, up or down, because lives are at stake.”

Those cautionary words from senior Republicans suggested the proposals Mr. Obama outlined at a Friday news conference may meet resistance on Capitol Hill. Some of the proposals, including changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, would require action by Congress, which has been deeply split on these issues.

Mr. Obama didn’t give many details of his proposals, and Congress is in recess until early September. Some civil libertarians said the president didn’t go far enough in addressing their concerns about privacy and government overreach.


Associated Press
Germans protest NSA practices last month.
At the foreign intelligence court, the government presents its case for collecting phone data to a judge, without other parties present. The court almost always approves the final government proposal.

While the Obama administration had defended the current court structure, administration officials said Friday that new measures were needed to restore public confidence in the court

Michael Hayden, a former director of the NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency under President George W. Bush, said he believed that Mr. Obama’s proposal would not have to be as intrusive as critics were suggesting.

“He was not talking about getting public defender in there for Tony Soprano every time you want to go up on a wiretap with him,” Mr. Hayden said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” A privacy advocate with a more narrowly defined role “may be useful for transparency and it may be useful for confidence,” Mr. Hayden said.

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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.