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Today's Must Read
The president has said that his administration is employing every tool at their disposal to foil terrorists while protecting the civil liberties of Americans. For some reason, The Los Angeles Times opted not to take him at his word.
The secrecy necessary for counterterrorism prosecutions has combined with the rampant secrecy of the Bush administration to make it all but impossible to measure that balance. But the Times chooses a method, however imperfect, to gauge what's going on. Simply put: spying is up while counterterrorism prosecutions are down. The specifics:
A recent study showed that the number of terrorism and national security cases initiated by the Justice Department in 2007 was more than 50% below 2002 levels. The nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which obtained the data under the Freedom of Information Act, found that the number of cases brought declined 19% in the last year alone, dropping to 505 in 2007 from 624 in 2006.By contrast, the Justice Department reported last month that the nation's spy court had granted 2,370 warrant requests by the department to search or eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and spies in the U.S. last year -- 9% more than in 2006. The number of such warrants approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has more than doubled since the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The department also reported a sharp rise in the use of national security letters by the FBI -- from 9,254 in 2005 to 12,583 in 2006, the latest data available. The letters seek customer information from banks, Internet providers and phone companies.
And as the Times notes, the Justice Department's performance in terrorism prosecutions has lately been underwhelming -- to wit, the farcical Seas of David case, where two juries have failed to reach a verdict.
As to what to make of these numbers, it depends on how much you're inclined to give the administration the benefit of the doubt.
On the civil liberty advocate of the question, the conclusion is clear:
"The number of Americans being investigated dwarfs any legitimate number of actual terrorism prosecutions, and that is extremely troubling -- for both the security and privacy of innocent Americans as well as for the squandering of resources on people who have not and never will be charged with any wrongdoing," said Lisa Graves, deputy director of the Center for National Security Studies, a Washington-based civil liberties group.
Meanwhile, the former head of the FBI national security law unit says it's just in the nature of the enterprise:
"Most of these threats ultimately turn out to be wrong, or maybe just the investigating makes them go away.... A lot more information is going to pass through government hands, and most of that is going to be about people who turn out to be innocent or irrelevant."
Josh
Zachary
To quote the Times, "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."
One has to, in my opinion, take a leap of faith to believe that the spying is for anti-terrorism and not to help create a permanent conservative majority in our government.
Bush is too stupid to use any intelligence gathered to fight terrorism. As evidenced in the Times article. The rest of the administration is hellbent on staying in power.
May 12, 2008 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
bingo
May 12, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
"On the civil liberty advocate of the question, the conclusion is clear:"
Administration spin: the fact that prosecutions are dropping proves that spying works. We are breaking these cells up before they have a chance to even commit actionable conspiracy.
It's just an extension of preemptive war!
May 12, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
But, but, but we haven't been attacked in 6 years, bleat the Bush apologists, so it must be working. We're winnin' the war on terra. If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothin' to hide. Spying is protection.
May 12, 2008 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
What's that old joke? Something like:
Jeff: Why are you whistling Jim?
Jim: To keep the elephants away.
Jeff: There are no elephants around here.
Jim: See, it works.
May 12, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's because the domestic spying isn't about terrorism, it is about gathering information to use against their political enemies.
May 12, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
bingo [again]
May 12, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yo, what brianm just said.
Obviously, by the way they've put us into continually worsening jeopardy, bu$hCo could give a shit less about "terrrism" and its effects on the populace. bu$hCo ARE the terrists. Terrrr was the lube they used to jack up the fear needed to go to war with someone, anyone, to get the $$boyz their due, and to get a lock on reelection in '4.
Of course, I stand for no spying on the populace, but bu$hCo can go look up my old address for all I care. They'd find ZZZZ. As a non-violent war protestor, I am not doing anything that's against the law and I refuse to think or act otherwise.
May 12, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
But Atropos....
they could begin by tracking down every IP address of every blogger. Google and Yahoo already hand over ALL their data, even searches for information are recorded and WHO was doing the searching.
Your ISP is daily handing over tons of data about it's customers. Your every digital move is being stored somewhere and could be dragged out 20 years from now to prove you are a Pinko Commie.
Every site you visit, every word you type, even your google-searches are being stored. You don't have to be doing anything wrong for these folks to make your life a walking misery. No Fly lists, yanked passports, NSLs....have you looked into the misery an NSL causes a person or their company? It is pretty horrific.
The Boosch police state is almost here. Makes no sense to just abandon all the apparatus and hope the next Dem prez keeps it going for them...what is their game I wonder?
May 12, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another example of Republican inefficiency and inability to govern.
May 12, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
"or maybe just the investigating makes them go away...."
What's that supposed to mean? Some sort of Observer Effect principle of terrorism? Wonderful, maybe we can just observe Osama Bin Laden out of existence.
I feel so much safer now.
May 12, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
May 12, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
This "news" should make all of us here feel special, shouldn't it? Certainly, they will be wasting their time on political "enemies" who are typing vicious things.
Who, in this forum, doesn't realize that domestic surveillance may be just that foolish.
May 12, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is worth noting that the fundamental purpose of the Foreign Intelligense Surveillance Act, as well as of other intelligence tools, such as National Security Letters, is not to generate evidence for prosecutions, but to gather intelligence. "Intelligence" in this context, means information concerning the plans, intentions and capabilities of foreign adversaries, and may (or may not) be information that is evidence of a crime (or leads to evidence of a crime). In fact, some have argued that a close correlation between FISA/NSL use and prosecutions is evidence of bad faith by the Government, since that would support the view that they are using the more relaxed information gathering standards for an intelligence tool as a way to get around the probable cause requirements of the ordinary methods of investigating crime: search warrants, Title III wiretaps, etc.
That said, the fundamental mistrust which leavs the LA Times in this predicament (needing to assess efficacy through a "bank-shot" technique, which may not be valid) is the fault of a secrecy obsessed, and often misleading, administration.
May 12, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Remember when George Will got caught with Carter's briefing book, which he'd been using to lie about Carter, and to and lie to propagandize against We the people? Was he arrested for possession of stolen goods? No -- no big whoop: he's a "respectable" REPUBLICAN "journalist". He loves baseball.
Was there an investigation to determine whether he himself stole it -- or instead got it from someone else who stole it? Or got it from someone who got it from someone else who stole it? Not that I recall. Republicans are above the law becuase, er, they Will be and they Will it.
I remember when Eisenhower was president. When JFK ran for office and was elected. When he was assassinated. Remember hearing Beatles records before they came to the US.
Remember when Vietnam began being reported on the nightly news. I Remember LBJ, Nixon. I remember Watergate.
The Bushit criminal enterpise isn't the Nixon administration on steroids (else they'd have Congress investigate them). It is the Nixon administration on methedrine and steroids, and the latest technological advances in spying on their political opponents.
They don't need no stinkin' Plumbers or third-class burglaries. All politics all the time, everywhere. Gov't as RNC.
May 12, 2008 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
"...The Los Angeles Times opted not to take (the President) at his word."
Wow! Let me wrap my feeble brain around that! The Los Angeles Times - one of the most bootlicking and neocon journals in all the bootlicky, neocon American media - researches an administration assertion and comes up with a completely different answer than the President. The Times actually DOES ITS JOB! Shheeee-AT! It's like all the air has been sucked out of the room and replaced with that mysterious stink that sometimes pervades New York. Journalism redux - WAY too much to grasp! I take my leave of you...
May 12, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good riddance, San Fernanado Cat, you shit-house rat troll...
You said the LA Times is "one of the most bootlicking and neocon journals in all the bootlicky, neocon American media"... really? Part of that statement may be true (a trick often used by actual neo-fascists, btw. Devilish, indeed.), but not the LAT. The assurstion would be down-right hilarious if only it was better written. Before posting again, anywhere, please seriously consider brushing up on your world history, and review what "neocon" means.
And to Alexander Hamilton: kudos on the insight. The current suspension of the Fourth Amendment truly bothers me. It doesn't have to walk like a duck, or whatever else a duck does, to qualify making a "case" for the Feds to throw your ass in jail, without representation or knowledge of the charges brought against you. Nice. Saddam would be proud.
Counting the days until Olbermann or Colbert are branded terrorists... no-fly
May 12, 2008 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The assurstion would be down-right hilarious if only it was better written."
Your assertion would be more coherent if you had SpellCheck.
...And you were less potty-mouthed.
Bitch.
May 13, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually San Fernando Curt, we're probably in concert on much of the criticism of the so-called MSM, but throwing around neocon in reference to the L.A. Times was a bit much for my taste.
Just sayin'.
May 12, 2008 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I still smell troll bait.
May 14, 2008 5:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Then take a bath, jackass.
May 14, 2008 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
(waiting for San Fernando Curt to write something worth reading...)
May 16, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Warrantless surveillance: The ultimate in opposition research.
May 23, 2008 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink