Woeful wiretaps

On Sunday, President Bush signed a law that expands the government’s surveillance abilities on foreign terrorist suspects. The new law is an expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and allows the government to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a warrant.

The surveillance can be approved by either the attorney general or the director of national intelligence.

According to cnn.com, the bill was pushed by Bush after a court ruling maintained that warrants were needed to eavesdrop on overseas calls because many of these calls use U.S. call centers. The new law would allow intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on the calls of foreign terror suspects that pass through the U.S.

However, some people worry that this new law can lead to the possibility of eavesdropping on any U.S. citizen.

According to usatoday.com, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said the law would “eviscerate the Fourth Amendment.” Although such worries are a bit on the alarmist side, the more the government chips away at surveillance restrictions, the closer the government comes to wiretapping any citizen.

According to usatoday.com, Bush said America is safer when intelligence agencies have the legal tools to gather information on suspected terrorists. Evidently, when legal means are not available, the solution is to make illegal tools into legal ones.

The Lantern believes that this new law is just another way for Bush to evade the American justice system. Apparently, Bush’s way to handle the justice system is to break down any laws that might stand in his way.

It makes one wonder whether our country’s system of checks and balances still exists when something as blatantly unlawful as this bill gets passed through Congress.

Although the bill was pushed by Bush, both Democrats and Republicans voted for it. Blaming Bush might be the easiest thing to do, but the majority of Congress is to blame too. According to cnn.com, the House voted 227-183 for the bill.

The Lantern wonders why Congress would allow another blatant disregard for existing laws protecting citizens in the U.S. Previous laws prohibiting wire-tapping in the U.S. were there for a reason. It is ridiculous that such laws can be changed so nonchalantly.

Fighting terrorism is important, but not at the expense of the privacy of the country’s citizens.

Article source: http://www.thelantern.com/2.1346/woeful-wiretaps-1.77701