--- Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 17:51:20 -0500 To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> From: Marc Rotenberg <rotenbergat_private> Subject: ABA Urges FISA Oversight Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" ======================================================================= E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================= Volume 10.03 February 12, 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_10.03.html ======================================================================= Table of Contents ======================================================================= [1] ABA Urges Oversight for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [2] EPIC Files FOIA Brief; Appeals Court Rules for Internet Free Speech [3] Pentagon Spy Program Limited; PATRIOT II Draft Obtained [4] INS Proposed Rule on Monitoring Travelers Draws Criticism [5] Report on Public Access to Congressional Research Service Products [6] EPIC Bill-Track: New Bills in Congress [7] EPIC Bookstore: Information Privacy Law [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events ======================================================================= [1] ABA Urges Oversight for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ======================================================================= The 400,000 member American Bar Association (ABA) has adopted a resolution calling on Congress to conduct oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to ensure that government investigations do not violate Constitutional protections. The ABA also urged Congress to require annual reports for FISA investigations, comparable to those required by the federal wiretap act. The ABA action follows a controversial decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review and ongoing concern about the expanded use of the special investigative authority created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The February 10 resolution urges Congress to ensure, through appropriate legislation, regular and timely oversight, and expanded reporting requirements, that the FISA is used only when the government has a significant foreign intelligence purpose -- as required by the USA PATRIOT Act -- and not to circumvent the stricter Fourth Amendment warrant requirements applicable to ordinary searches and surveillances. The ABA Resolution stated: RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges the Congress to conduct regular and timely oversight, including public hearings (except when Congress determines that the requirements of national security make open proceedings inappropriate), to ensure that government investigations undertaken pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. ("FISA" or "the Act") do not violate the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution and adhere to the Act's purposes of accommodating and advancing both the government's interest in pursuing legitimate intelligence activity and the individual's interest in being free from improper government intrusion. FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges the Congress to consider amendments to the Act to (1) Clarify that the procedures adopted by the Attorney General to protect United States persons, as required by the Act, should ensure that FISA is used when the government has a significant (i.e. not insubstantial) foreign intelligence purpose, as contemplated by the Act, and not to circumvent the Fourth Amendment; and (2) Make available to the public an annual statistical report on FISA investigations, comparable to the reports prepared by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. sec. 2519, regarding the use of Federal wiretap authority. The resolution, which now becomes the official policy of the ABA, was adopted with the support of 87 percent of the House of Delegates. Mark D. Agrast, Chair of the ABA's Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, said that "the ABA House of Delegates has voted overwhelmingly to require the government to abide by the limitations that Congress has placed on the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act." The Individual Rights and Responsibilities section initiated the FISA resolution, which was co-sponsored by the sections on Litigation, Criminal Justice, Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, International Law and Practice, Science and Technology Law, and the Young Lawyers Division. "Following the enactment of the PATRIOT Act, some government officials asserted that FISA could be used as long as the government could show that it has a 'measurable' foreign intelligence purpose," said Agrast. "The resolution makes clear that any such standard misses the mark. If the asserted purpose is genuinely significant, as Congress has required, the courts shouldn't need a Geiger counter to detect it." Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC and Chair of the ABA Committee on Privacy and Information Protection, said that the ABA has continued an important tradition. "The legal profession must continue to defend the rights established by the Constitution even at times of national concern. Nowhere is the threat more urgent than in the expanded surveillance authority that the government has sought since September 11." EPIC has pursued oversight of electronic surveillance authority since its founding and participated in the recent challenge to the use of FISA authority heard by the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review. American Bar Association, Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities: http://www.abanet.org/irr/ ABA FISA Resolution, February 10, 2003: http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/fisa/aba_res_021003.html EPIC's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Page: http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/fisa/ EPIC's Federal Wiretap Page: http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/ ======================================================================= * * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? 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