Ending Secret Law Act (S.1130)
govtrack.us
govtrack.us
So, the AG simply decides that all such disclosures are "not in the national security interest" and everything stays secret anyway, irrespective of this bill should it become law. This smells of "pretend to do something, without actually doing anything."
Senator,
Thank you for your reply; I appreciate your concern for these issues. If you could find the time, I would love a reply to the below that I could forward on to others.
On Wed, Aug 07, 2013 at 02:14:55PM -0400, Senator Schumer wrote:
> First, there should be an open discussion and debate about them in
> Congress. Policies this profound should not be decided unilaterally by any
> administration. Second, there should be clear rules established that the
> government has to obey. Third, there ought to be an independent arbiter,
> like a judge, that makes sure these rules are being obeyed.
>
> Once the arbiter makes rulings on these issues, they should be released to
> the public for review---so long as their release would not jeopardize our
> national security.
This is certainly a step in the right direction. However:
``It is the sense of Congress that each decision, order, or opinion issued
by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review that includes significant
construction or interpretation of section 501 or section 702 of the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1861 and 1881a)
should be declassified in a manner consistent with the protection of
national security, intelligence sources and methods, and other properly
classified and sensitive information.''
As an example, consider the case Jewel v. NSA, filed by the EFF.[1] The case was for a while stalled while the NSA tried to argue the state secrets privilege, which was not denied until after Snowden's revelations.[2] While Judge White's decision is certainly reassuring, such friction needs to be limited to avoid a dysfunctional and terribly slow legal process.
That is not to say that this bill is not a step in the right direction with regards to exposing the FISA Court's decisions; however, this leads to another question: Why did it take this long?
The EFF and others have been pushing for the FISC to publish its secret interpretations of FISA and the Patriot Act for quite some time. Furthermore, there has been extensive evidence suggesting NSA spying[3] as outlined in the Hepting v. AT&T and Jewel v. NSA cases; two such examples are [4] and [5], with the latter (Summary of Voluminous Evidence) particularity damning.
Why did it take a whistleblower for our government to become interested in this investigations to the degree that they are today? Why is it necessary for a citizen to keep his government in check by his own means?
Regardless, thank you again for your response. I look forward to further discussion from lawmakers and, as a constituent, yourself.
[1] https://www.eff.org/cases/jewel
[2] https://www.eff.org/press/releases/federal-judge-allows-effs...
[3] http://www.mikegerwitz.com/2013/06/National-Uproar-A-Compreh...