Late Saturday night, the U.S. Congress decided to enable the Bush Administration to spy on you without a warrant.  The president will surely sign the "Protect America Act" into law and everyone in national politics will have an Orwellian good time during their monthlong August vacation.

I have been paying attention to the U.S. intelligence community since I first read James Bamford's "Puzzle Palace" as a teenager.  During my military service, I attended U.S. Army Signal Corps schools that required a top secret security clearance in buildings with no windows and was often loaned out to support Special Operations Command during the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations for their many declared and undeclared military interventions.

This personal experience has given me a healthy respect for the people who work in the intelligence business, no matter what their job title happens to be.  The majority of these people are true patriots and go to work everyday with the sincere belief that they are protecting the country that they love.  Even if one were to exclude military service members, there are thousands of people risking their lives in their endeavors.

Given my respect for the military and civilian personnel, I'm keenly aware how politics seems to have inserted itself into the intelligence process over the years.  I'm aware that not everyone believes that the constitution is helpful to their activities.  I'm aware that some people in government service will step outside the law because of loyalties to their organization, or political party, or even personal relationships.  These people are eventually discovered and held to account.

Since the Bush adminstration has come to power, they have had a quirky way of simply changing the laws to allow previously unnacceptable behavior by government.  Torture, and Abu Ghraib, and rendition, and secret detention, and dungeons in the 'Stans, and national security letters, and mass deportations, and spying have all been sold to the American people under the Bush-Cheney bumper sticker slogan of "Fighting the War on Terrorism" but the actual legislation made into law can be applied to any citizen of this country.  These laws affect you and your family, here at home, not some bearded ex-CIA asset we call Tim.

For the first six years of the Bush administration, the Republican-controlled legislative branch was labelled the "rubber stamp" Congress.  Last night, 41 Democratic representatives wanted to go home more than they wanted to honor their oaths of office to protect and defend the constitution.

The media will sell this as "Bush wins over Democrats to spy on terrorists."  However, the so-called "Protect America Act" allows the federal government to read your email, listen to your phone calls, and intercept any of your communications that the government chooses with no judicial predetermination of cause or congressional oversight on these spying activities for at least the next six months.

The intelligence community does need a technology-neutral legal framework to help protect the country against its enemies.  However, the legislation (S. 1927) approved last night was lazy, over-reaching, and codifies into law further removal of your civil rights.  You should thank the 41 House Democrats who made this possible.

Further reading:

Meh.  I was up too late last night to do your work for you.  Highlight something and Google it yourself.  It's your country too, if you want to keep it.

[ headphones ]  - Sinja's Project Playlist

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