How the House Hurt Our Intel Capabilities
Posted on February 23, 2008
The Washington Post reports on the failure of House Democrats to vote on the FISA law last week and how this has resulted in reducing cooperation from the telecom companies now.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said in a letter sent yesterday afternoon to Capitol Hill that the companies were refusing to cooperate because they were uncertain about what legal liability they might face.
“We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress’ failure to act,†McConnell and Mukasey wrote to Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), chairman of the House intelligence committee. “Because of this uncertainty, some partners have reduced cooperation.â€
The two officials noted that some companies have “delayed or refused compliance†with requests to add surveillance targets to general orders that were approved before the law expired. They did not provide further details.
Basically, the telecom companies don’t want to be subjected to lawsuits defending what they are doing from groups like the ACLU. Even if the telecom companies win the lawsuits, they are costly. Democrats don’t want to give them any immunity, and in the process are putting us in danger.
“The skittishness and concern is the companies are already spending a great deal of money on a number of suits pending that they don’t have the ability to defend against because of the State Secrets Act,†said one source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “That’s why the companies are saying, ‘We just can’t put ourselves in the position of having another round of suits against us because there’s no law in place at the moment that will protect us from litigation.’â€
Meanwhile the left continue to pretend that immunity for these companies is a separate issue from being able to intercept our enemy’s conversations. How much we rely on their cooperation, and how the House has jeapordized that is starting to show.
The six page letter can be found here, PDF file.
The letter written by McConnell and Mukasey makes it clear that the inability of Congress to pass the Senates bipartisan bill is “why the Nation is now more vulnerable to terrorist attack and other foreign threats.”
At the beginning of the letter they also make it clear that Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is wrong with his public statements (he lied), they tell him “Your assertion that there is no harm in allowing the temporary authorities provided by the Protect America Act to expire without enacting the Senate’s FISA reform bill is inaccurate and based on a number of misunderstandings concerning our intelligence capabilities.”
Read the full thing.
The incompetence of Congress shows us undoubtedly why the Democratic politicians in Congress are incapable of doing their jobs and have no understanding about the threat to our country from terror groups.
Is it any wonder that Democrats have been known for ages to be weak on National Security?
» Filed Under ACLU, News, Politics As Usual, War On Terror
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4 Responses to “How the House Hurt Our Intel Capabilities”
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lol, I almost missed this jewel.
“no law in place to protect us”? I’m pretty sure that’s lawyer-speak for “We’re guilty.”
The demacrat party vote for what suports their corupt party more then to protect this nation from invasion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEcBjpsP1bU
“The Washington Post reports on the failure of House Democrats to vote on the FISA law last week and how this has resulted in reducing cooperation from the telecom companies now”
The democrats did vote on the FISA law last week. There was a vote to extend the Protect America Act. Democrats voted for. Republicans against.