Intel panel OKs surveillance bill
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The Senate Intelligence Committee voted Thursday to strengthen court oversight of government surveillance while protecting telecommunications companies from civil lawsuits for tapping Americans' phones and computers without court approval.
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WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved landmark legislation to revamp Americaâs intelligence network, clearing the way for major reforms aimed at preventing a repeat of the September 11 attacks.
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WASHINGTON - The House last night passed the first major reform of intelligence operations in half a century, clearing the way for Senate passage today and giving the White House a major political victory.
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WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (MASNET &amp; News Agencies) - Congress gave final approval to the most massive reorganization of America&#39;s intelligence system in over 50 years, which lawmakers said would reduce the risk of terror strikes like the attacks on September 11
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WASHINGTON : The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved legislation to revamp America&#39;s intelligence network -- a bill nearly derailed by squabbles over Pentagon control over some key espionage resources.
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A White House privacy board is giving its stamp of approval to two of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance programs
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(InfoWorld) - An advocacy group called a U.S. government surveillance authorization bill, approved by a Senate committee Wednesday, one of the worst bills imaginable for people concerned about civil liberties. The National Security Surveillance Act, one of three surveillance bills approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would give congressional authorization to a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program that critics have complained is illegal. The bill, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, "would radically undermine the privacy of innocent Americans," the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) said Thursday. The Specter bill would allow the U.S. government to conduct surveillance programs without court warrants for individual cases as long as the surveillance program is approved ahead of time by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This court is sometimes called FISA after the legislation created it. Specter defended his bill as necessary to help the U.S. government fight terrorism. The bill addresses "a national security issue," he said after the committee vote. The Judiciary Committee also approved a second bill, sponsored by Ohio Republican Senator Mike DeWine, allowing the U.S. president to authorize surveillance programs for up to 45 days without a court order. The U.S. attorney general can then review the program and continue it for another 45 days without a court order. The DeWine bill requires that the president report the programs to congressional subcommittees, but it also allows a 15-year prison sentence and a US$1 million fine to anyone who leaks the details of secret surveillance programs. The CDT include the Specter bill on its list of nine legislation efforts that "must be stopped" this year. The bill will give the U.S. government "broader authority to spy on Americans ... without judicial review," the group said. "Cutting the intelligence agencies loose from any checks and balances in this way can actually harm national security, since unfocused fishing expeditions are likely to produce more false leaders than valuable intelligence." Other civil liberties groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, have also raised privacy concerns about the Specter and DeWine bills. With U.S. President George Bush pushing for Congress to authorize the NSA program, the bill is likely to get action on the Senate floor this month, said Leslie Harris, CDT's executive director. "The FISA bill has taken on a political life of its own," she said. Congress may work to pass the FISA bills during the last weeks of the session as lawmakers up for re-election in November try to show their constituents they're tough on terrorism, Harris said. Bush has said he believes the NSA program is legal, but he's called on Congress to authorize the surveillance as a way to head off legal challenges to it. A third bill, which gives the FISA court more funding and resources, also passed out of the Judiciary Committee. Most civil liberties groups have not objected to that bill, sponsored by Specter and Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. TheÂ CDT's watch list of "dangerous" tech legislation is online. "We're trying to shame [lawmakers] to better behavior," Harris said. "Even if one of these misguided legislative gambits succeeds, we will all be the worse for it."
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In what senators from both parties called a potential turning point for American intelligence agencies, the Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to confirm the nomination
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Technology trade groups cheered parts of a comprehensive intelligence reform bill that passed Congress Wednesday, including a provision that could speed up the federal government's security clearance process for IT vendors and contractors.
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THE BILL TO reform US intelligence operations only seems like itâs been around since the Cold War ended. It is a product of the 9/11 Commissionâs final report, incorporating many of its key recommendations.
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WASHINGTON Congressional leaders say they have reached final agreement allowing passage of a bill to overhaul the nation&#39;s intelligence community and enact the major recommendations of the independent Sept.
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The House approved an intelligence bill that bans the C.I.A. from using waterboarding, mock executions and other harsh interrogation methods.
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The Senate on Tuesday approved new rules for government eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails, giving the White House much of the latitude it wanted and granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped in the snooping after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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The House adopted a Republican-sponsored bill on Friday that would restructure the nation&#39;s intelligence community in response to the recommendations of the Sept.
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The House of Representatives on  Tuesday approved a sweeping overhaul of U.S. intelligence  agencies, ending weeks of wrangling over the Pentagon's power  under the reforms demanded after the Sept. 11 attacks.
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Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., walks to a meeting to discuss the status of the intelligence bill with other Republican lawmakers on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2004 in Washington.
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(InfoWorld) - A U.S. House of Representatives Committee has approved a controversial bill that would broaden the U.S. government's ability to conduct electronic surveillance on U.S. residents by making it easier for federal law enforcement officials to get court-issued warrants. The Electronic Modernization Surveillance Act,Â opposed by several privacy groups, would also allow federal law enforcement officials to spy on U.S. residents for up to 90 days without a court order in the period after a terrorist attack. The House Judiciary Committee approved the legislation Wednesday by a 20-16 vote, with all committee Democrats present voting against the bill. The bill, sponsored by Representative Heather Wilson, a New Mexico Republican, would reduce the amount of information required from federal agents applying for a wiretapping warrant from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The bill would clarify that the U.S. government can seek wiretaps on any type of electronic communication, not just telephone- or radio-spectrum-based communication. Republicans praised the bill, saying it will help the U.S. government fight terrorism. The bill will provide the U.S. intelligence agencies "greater agility and flexibility as they try to thwart our determined and dangerous terrorist enemies," Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said in a statement. The full House is expected to vote on the bill by the end of the month. The committee's action comes after U.S. President George Bush called on Congress to approve a controversial electronic surveillance program conducted by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA has conducted the program, reportedly targeting U.S. residents speaking with foreigners who have suspected terrorism connections, without getting court warrants. Bush has asked Congress to authorize the NSA program to ward off multiple court challenges against it. In August, a U.S. judge in Michigan ruled the NSA program is illegal and must be halted. The Bush administration has appealed that ruling. The Senate Judiciary CommitteeÂ approved three surveillance billsÂ last week. The Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy and civil liberties advocacy group, called the Wilson bill and the Senate's National Security Surveillance Act two of the worst bills now in Congress. "Couched in the seemingly laudable terms of 'modernization,' the bills would radically undermine the privacy of innocent Americans -- not just by legitimizing the administration's warrantless surveillance programs -- but by granting this and future administrations even broader authority to spy on Americans in the United States without judicial review," the CDT said on its Web site.