First, the USA PATRIOT Act changed the FISA requirement that a government official certify that the purpose of the surveillance was to collect foreign intelligence information—a significant purpose to do so would suffice. |
The Multitude of New Laws
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"[The Center] would analyze intelligence information – “connecting the dots” so the government could take effective action to detect, prevent, and disrupt terrorist activity." |
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, 2008
"In September 2008, the Bush administration changed domestic intelligence-gathering rules. The FBI's interpretation of those rules was released in response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit. The new rules have given F.B.I. agents the most power in national security matters that they have had since the post-Watergate era." |
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"In late December 2005, the New York Times disclosed that in 2002 President Bush had secretly authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to wiretap domestic phone calls and emails without obtaining legally required warrants. Although the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) already permitted the administration to wiretap on an emergency basis and apply for warrants retroactively, the administration maintained that FISA was too cumbersome when urgent issues of national security were at stake.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales offered two justifications for the legality of the domestic spying program, asserting that the president had the "inherent authority under the Constitution, as commander in chief, to engage in this kind of activity" and that Congress, "when it authorize[d] the president to use all necessary and appropriate force" against al-Qaeda in 2001, indirectly sanctioned it. Critics objected that the wiretapping infringed on civil liberties, sidestepped the legislative branch, and placed the president above the law. In August 2006, a federal judge in Detroit ruled the wiretapping program unconstitutional. However, in July 2008, Congress passed a bill overhauling the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—effectively legalizing Bush's secret program. The new law gave legal immunity to the telephone companies that participated in the NSA secret wiretapping program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and broadened the government's ability to eavesdrop on those in the U.S. and abroad it suspects are linked to terrorist activities."
Beth Rowen, Managing Editor at Infoplease
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008
"In 2008, legislation was enacted that modernized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which passed with a bipartisan majority of Congress and broad support from the intelligence community, allows intelligence professionals to more quickly and effectively monitor terrorist communications, while protecting the civil liberties of Americans. Among other things, the law accomplishes the following:"
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