DOCSLIB.ORG

Table of Contents Acknowledgements

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Table of Contents Acknowledgements The Data Privacy/National Security Balancing Paradigm as Applied In The U.S.A. and Europe: Achieving an Acceptable Balance Paul Raphael Murray, B.A. H.Dip in Ed. LL.B. LL.M Ph.D. (NUI) Submitted for the Degree of Doctor in Philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin School of Law August 2017 Declaration and Online Access I declare that this thesis has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university and it is entirely my own work. I agree to deposit this thesis in the University’s open access institutional repository or allow the library to do so on my behalf, subject to Irish Copyright Legislation and Trinity College Library conditions of use and acknowledgement. Paul Raphael Murray Acknowledgements I would like to record my thanks to my Supervisor, Professor Neville Cox, School of Law, and Dean of Graduate Studies, Trinity College, Dublin, for his help and guidance. i ii Abstract The Data Privacy/National Security Balancing Paradigm as Applied In The U.S.A. and Europe: Achieving an Acceptable Balance Paul Raphael Murray The overall research question addressed in this thesis is the data privacy/national security balancing paradigm, and the contrasting ways in which this operates in Europe and the U.S. Within this framework, the influences causing the balance to shift in one direction or another are examined: for example, the terrorist attacks on two U.S. cities in 2001 and in various countries in Europe in the opening decade of the new millennium, and the revelations by Edward Snowden in 2013 of the details of U.S. mass surveillance practices. The thesis is divided into three main parts. The first part deals with European attitudes and practices in relation to the balancing paradigm. The second part deals with U.S. attitudes and practices on the same basis. It deals with the influence of the various branches of Government in determining this balance. In the third part, consideration is given to the contracts and similarities between the U.S. and Europe in relation to the balancing process, and in particular to the factors underlying the contrasts. The conclusion to the thesis gives details of the findings arrived at. iii iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... i Abstract ....................................................................................................................... iii Summary ..................................................................................................................... ix Overall Introduction.................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One ................................................................................................................. 7 The Privacy/National Security Balance from a European Perspective .................. 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 7 Section I: The Council of Europe ............................................................................ 13 1.0 The Basis for the Data Privacy/National Security Balance .......................... 13 2.0 The Influence of the ECHR on National Legal Systems .............................. 14 3.0 The Jurisprudence of the ECtHR and the Data Privacy/National Security Balance ................................................................................................................. 27 4.0 Shortcomings in the Jurisprudence of the ECtHR - The Application of the Margin of Appreciation ........................................................................................ 43 Section II: The European Union .............................................................................. 67 1.0 The European Union and Human Rights Protection in the Context of the data privacy/national security balance ......................................................................... 73 2.0 The Growing Involvement of the EU in Human Rights Protection, particularly in data protection and the circumstances influencing this. ............... 77 3.0 Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC and the Alteration of the Data Privacy/National Security Balance ....................................................................... 79 4.0 Features of Directive 2006/24/EC ................................................................ 81 5.0 Responses to Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC .................................... 82 6.0 Institutional Responses to Directive 2006/24/EC......................................... 94 7.0 Judgment of the CJEU (Grand Chamber) on the Validity of Directive 2006/24/EC......................................................................................................... 103 8.0 The Ruling of the CJEU ............................................................................. 105 9.0 Significance of the Digital Rights Ireland and Seitlinger Judgment and its Context ............................................................................................................... 109 10.0 Consequences of the Digital Rights Ireland Judgment for Data Privacy/National Security in Europe .................................................................. 114 11.0 Judgments of the CJEU in the Google Spain and Schrems Cases .............. 122 12.0 Developments following the Invalidation of the Safe Harbour Agreement 131 13.0 Impact of the CJEU decisions in the Digital Rights Ireland, Google Spain, and Schrems cases on the data privacy/national security balance ...................... 135 14.0 The Alternative Data Privacy/National Security Balance: Circumventing v Data Privacy Protections in the EU: The Mass Surveillance of Personal Data by Spy Agencies in some EU Member States ..........................................................135 15.0 Two Parallel Systems of Surveillance .........................................................146 16.0 The Council of Europe Versus The European Union: Which Regime Provides Greater Protection For Data Privacy Rights? .......................................148 17.0 Contrasting the European and U.S. positions on the Balancing of Data Privacy Rights against National Security Interests .............................................153 18.0 Conclusion ...................................................................................................156 Chapter Two .............................................................................................................165 The Privacy/Security Balance in the U.S. pre-9/11 ................................................165 1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................165 2.0 U.S. Understandings of the Right to Privacy and Particularly Data Privacy .............................................................................................................................168 3.0 Major Interferences with data privacy for national security reasons pre-9/11 in the context of the data privacy/national security balance, with emphasis on the background and role of the NSA. ........................................................................179 4.0 Major Scandals Relating to Data Retention: Privacy Rights Illegally Infringed by the Executive and its Agencies .......................................................186 5.0 Church Committee Report and the Balance Between National Security and Personal Liberties Pre-9/11 .................................................................................191 6.0 Judicial Oversight of Surveillance in the name of National Security: Implications for the Data Privacy/National Security Balance. ............................194 7.0 FISA: Adjusting the Data Privacy/National Security Balance? Restricting the Interpretation of Personal Data in the Context of Intelligence Surveillance by the Executive Branch in the name of National Security ...........................................197 8.0 Balancing Rights which are Qualitatively Different: Philosophical Issues Underlying the Data Privacy/National Security Balancing Paradigm ................209 9.0 Two Data Privacy/National Security Balancing Systems Pre-9/11:The Influence of NSA Surveillance Activity. The Legal and the Actual Balances....220 10.0 Conclusion ...................................................................................................224 Chapter Three ...........................................................................................................229 The Privacy/Security Balance in the U.S. Post-9/11 ..............................................229 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................229 2.0 Background ...................................................................................................230 3.0 The Administration's Defence of Its Surveillance Policies and a Scholarly Response .............................................................................................................244 4.0 Ideological Context of the Patriot Act ...........................................................252 5.0 Provisions of the Patriot Act .........................................................................253 vi 6.0 Executive Dominance, Congressional Acquiescence and Marginalisation of Data Privacy Concerns ......................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The NSA Is on the Line -- All of Them
    The NSA is on the line -- all of them An intelligence expert predicts we'll soon learn that cellphone and Internet companies also cooperated with the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on us. By Kim Zetter, Salon.com May. 15, 2006 | When intelligence historian those safeguards had little effect in preventing Matthew Aid read the USA Today story last at least three telecommunications companies Thursday about how the National Security from repeating history. Agency was collecting millions of phone call records from AT&T, Bell South and Verizon for Aid, who co-edited a book in 2001 on signals a widespread domestic surveillance program intelligence during the Cold War, spent a designed to root out possible terrorist activity in decade conducting more than 300 interviews the United States, he had to wonder whether with former and current NSA employees for his the date on the newspaper wasn't 1976 instead new history of the agency, the first volume of of 2006. which will be published next year. Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow at the National Aid, a visiting fellow at George Washington Security Archive, calls Aid the top authority on University's National Security Archive, who has the NSA, alongside author James Bamford. just completed the first book of a three-volume history of the NSA, knew the nation's Aid spoke with Salon about how the NSA has bicentennial marked the year when secrets learned to maneuver around Congress and the surrounding another NSA domestic Department of Justice to get what it wants. He surveillance program, code-named Project compared the agency's current data mining to Shamrock, were exposed.
    [Show full text]
  • Zerohack Zer0pwn Youranonnews Yevgeniy Anikin Yes Men
    Zerohack Zer0Pwn YourAnonNews Yevgeniy Anikin Yes Men YamaTough Xtreme x-Leader xenu xen0nymous www.oem.com.mx www.nytimes.com/pages/world/asia/index.html www.informador.com.mx www.futuregov.asia www.cronica.com.mx www.asiapacificsecuritymagazine.com Worm Wolfy Withdrawal* WillyFoReal Wikileaks IRC 88.80.16.13/9999 IRC Channel WikiLeaks WiiSpellWhy whitekidney Wells Fargo weed WallRoad w0rmware Vulnerability Vladislav Khorokhorin Visa Inc. Virus Virgin Islands "Viewpointe Archive Services, LLC" Versability Verizon Venezuela Vegas Vatican City USB US Trust US Bankcorp Uruguay Uran0n unusedcrayon United Kingdom UnicormCr3w unfittoprint unelected.org UndisclosedAnon Ukraine UGNazi ua_musti_1905 U.S. Bankcorp TYLER Turkey trosec113 Trojan Horse Trojan Trivette TriCk Tribalzer0 Transnistria transaction Traitor traffic court Tradecraft Trade Secrets "Total System Services, Inc." Topiary Top Secret Tom Stracener TibitXimer Thumb Drive Thomson Reuters TheWikiBoat thepeoplescause the_infecti0n The Unknowns The UnderTaker The Syrian electronic army The Jokerhack Thailand ThaCosmo th3j35t3r testeux1 TEST Telecomix TehWongZ Teddy Bigglesworth TeaMp0isoN TeamHav0k Team Ghost Shell Team Digi7al tdl4 taxes TARP tango down Tampa Tammy Shapiro Taiwan Tabu T0x1c t0wN T.A.R.P. Syrian Electronic Army syndiv Symantec Corporation Switzerland Swingers Club SWIFT Sweden Swan SwaggSec Swagg Security "SunGard Data Systems, Inc." Stuxnet Stringer Streamroller Stole* Sterlok SteelAnne st0rm SQLi Spyware Spying Spydevilz Spy Camera Sposed Spook Spoofing Splendide
    [Show full text]
  • Damming the Leaks: Balancing National Security, Whistleblowing and the Public Interest
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Lincoln Memorial University, Duncan School of Law: Digital Commons... LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW _____________________________________ VOLUME 3 FALL 2015 _____________________________________ DAMMING THE LEAKS: BALANCING NATIONAL SECURITY, WHISTLEBLOWING AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST Jason Zenor1 In the last few years we have had a number of infamous national security leaks and prosecutions. Many have argued that these people have done a great service for our nation by revealing the wrongdoings of the defense agencies. However, the law is quite clear- those national security employees who leak classified information are subject to lengthy prison sentences or in some cases, even execution as a traitor. In response to the draconian national security laws, this article proposes a new policy which fosters the free flow of information. First, the article outlines the recent history of national security leaks and the government response to the perpetrators. Next, the article outlines the information policy of the defense industry including the document classification system, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), whistleblower laws and the Espionage Act. Finally, the article outlines a new policy that will advance government transparency by promoting whistleblowing that serves the public interest, while balancing it with government efficiency 1 Assistant Professor, School of Communication, Media and the Arts, State University of New York-Oswego. DAMMING THE LEAKS 62 by encouraging proper channels of dissemination that actually respond to exposures of government mismanagement. “The guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security for our Republic.” Justice Hugo Black2 “The oath of allegiance is not an oath of secrecy [but rather] an oath to the Constitution.” Edward Snowden3 I.
    [Show full text]
  • THE NSA and EDWARD SNOWDEN: SURVEILLANCE in the 21ST CENTURY Joseph Verble Chicago IL, 60655 Saint Xavier University 3700 W
    THE NSA AND EDWARD SNOWDEN: SURVEILLANCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY Joseph Verble Chicago IL, 60655 Saint Xavier University 3700 W. 103rd St. [email protected] ABSTRACT replaced by the new NSA. The NSA became the management This paper examines the case and background of Edward system for the many cryptology agencies throughout the military Snowden, the history and purpose of the National Security and researchers into new computer technology and Agency (NSA), legality and American public opinion and its communications infrastructure. The beginning of the NSA was aftermath. not without problems, as they often butted heads with the Department of Defense (DoD) and the CIA. After World War II, the U.S. Military and Intelligence Agencies were being Categories and Subject Descriptors downsized, but after the start of the Korean War, they reserved Social and Professional Topics – Professional Topics – course and built up and expanded rapidly. This expansion led to Computing profession – Codes of ethics; Social and Professional the NSA becoming the intelligence centerpiece that would guide Topics – Computing/technology policy – Surveillance-- U.S. troops in several international incidents and major conflicts. Government surveillance The NSA is one of the largest government organizations in staff and in funding. Though the official numbers on staff size are General Terms classified, the estimates on it are nearly 40,000 employees and an Security, Human Factors, Legal Aspects. annual budget about $11 billion ($10.8 billion as of 2013). The U.S. intelligence community employs nearly 107, 000 people, including the CIA and the National Reconnaissance Office. Keywords The NSA has run into a series of missteps over the years Edward Snowden, NSA, Security, Intelligence, Government.
    [Show full text]
  • Overexposed-Project
    Overexposed Profiles and photos of Overexposed artwork series. Research assembled by Paolo Cirio, 2014-2015. http://paolocirio.net/work/hd-stencils/overexposed Keith Alexander Keith seems excited for this selfie taken by Corrie Becker, a mysterious acquaintance of his whom he shares no apparent social connection with. He has his neck tucked into his collar and an awkward smile plastered across his face. He and Corrie appear to be close and intimate, having fun with the selfie. The location where this photo was taken and how these two met each other is unclear. Corrie stated on her Facebook post, “Look who takes a great #Selfie - General Keith Alexander, the Cowboy of the NSA.” The photo was obtained from Facebook via Corrie Becker's account. Dated May 27th, 2014.1 Keith Brian Alexander served as Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) until 2013 and is now a retired four-star general. He was also Chief of the Central Security Service (CHCSS) and Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command. Alexander held key staff assignments as Deputy Director, Operations Officer, and Executive Officer both in Germany and during the Persian Gulf War in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. He also served in Afghanistan on a peacekeeping mission for the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence. In Saudi Arabia he presided over the Navy’s 10th Fleet, the 24th Air Force, and the Second Army. Among the units under his command were the military intelligence teams involved in torture and prisoner abuse at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison.2 Two years later, Donald Rumsfeld appointed Alexander director of the NSA.
    [Show full text]
  • CQR Government Surveillance
    Published by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. www.cqresearcher.com Government Surveillance Is government spying on Americans excessive? ow tightly the government should keep tabs on citizens has long been fiercely debated. But con - cern about surveillance intensified in June after H National Security Agency computer specialist Edward Snowden revealed classified details of agency electronic snooping programs. Civil liberties advocates, lawmakers and others Demonstrators in Berlin, Germany, protest on July 27 also have cited growing unease with other surveillance measures, against the sweeping U.S. electronic surveillance operations revealed in June by National Security including the use of unmanned “drone” aircraft and tiny video Agency computer specialist Edward Snowden (shown on placard). Many Germans were outraged at reports that the super-secret spy agency had collected data cameras. Congress, along with state and local governments, is ex - on German citizens, including emails. pected to take up a variety of bills this fall to protect privacy and increase transparency about government activities. But the Obama I THIS REPORT N administration maintains that internal safeguards — including a THE ISSUES ....................719 S federal civil liberties oversight board created in 2004 — have pre - BACKGROUND ................725 I vented the federal government from becoming “Big Brother.” CHRONOLOGY ................727 D CURRENT SITUATION ........730 E CQ Researcher • Aug. 30, 2013 • www.cqresearcher.com AT ISSUE ........................733 Volume 23, Number 30 • Pages 717-740 OUTLOOK ......................734 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY ................738 EXCELLENCE N AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD THE NEXT STEP ..............739 GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE Aug. 30, 2013 THE ISSUES OUTLOOK Volume 23, Number 30 • Is government surveil - More Cameras MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas J.
    [Show full text]
  • An Inadequate Limitation?
    GOVERNMENT DISCRETION IN THE AGE OF BULK DATA COLLECTION: AN INADEQUATE LIMITATION? JULIAN SANCHEZ* There are about 3,500 wiretap orders issued every year, at the federal and state levels combined for all criminal investigations.1 When one company, such as Facebook, has on the order of tens of thousands of accounts flagged for content interception under foreign intelligence orders,2 the appropriate benchmark is not “millions,” but what we do in other contexts. Even that number is incomplete because much of the gov- ernment’s collection of Internet content is not happening through PRISM.3 There is also the other component of section 7024—the “upstream” collection off the Internet backbone,5 as well as overseas collection under the authority of Executive Order 12,333.6 This is not part of FISA, which only covers col- * Senior Fellow, Cato Institute. This essay was adapted from remarks given at the 2014 Federalist Society Annual Student Symposium at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. 1. ADMIN. OFFICE OF THE U.S. COURTS, WIRETAP REPORT 2013 (2014), available at http://www.uscourts.gov/Statistics/WiretapReports/wiretap-report-2013.aspx [http://perma.cc/ASG5-7T6G]. 2. See Global Government Requests Reports, FACEBOOK, https://www.facebook.com /about/government_requests [http://perma.cc/595L-XTV6] (last visited July 28, 2014) (reporting government data requests by country from the first six months of 2013, ending on June 30). 3. Stephen Braun et. al, PRISM Is Just Part of a Much Larger, Scarier Government Surveillance Program, BUSINESS INSIDER (Jun. 15, 2013, 9:54 AM), http:// www.businessinsider.com/prism-is-just-the-start-of-nsa-spying-2013-6 [http://perma.cc/5BH8-AE82] (noting that PRISM is “a relatively small part of a much more expansive and intrusive eavesdropping effort”).
    [Show full text]
  • Total Terror Plots*
    NSA DATA COLLECTION PROGRAM: THE CHALLENGE OF ASSESING EFFECTIVENESS Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors DEIBEL, CHARLES LOUIS, II Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 10:48:12 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/613829 NSA DATA COLLECTION PROGRAM: THE CHALLENGE OF ASSESING EFFECTIVENESS By CHARLES LOUIS DEIBEL II ____________________ A Thesis Submitted to The Honors College In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelors degree With Honors in Political Science THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA M A Y 2 0 1 6 Approved by: ____________________________ Dr. John Tidd School of Government and Public Policy Abstract The National Security Agency (NSA) has played a key role in the United States Government’s counterterror program since September 11. Over the last 15 years, the NSA has faced considerable controversy regarding its counterterrorism data collection program and the legal authority behind it. This paper, however, is concerned with whether or not that program has been effective in preventing Islamist related or inspired terror attacks inside the United States. As NSA capabilities and authorities have expanded since 9/11, has it been effective in helping to prevent attacks in the U.S.? Definitively answering this question is extremely difficult, given significant challenges regarding the amount and quality of public information concerning NSA’s involvement in prevented terror attacks.
    [Show full text]
  • Timeline of US Govt. Surveillance & Spying
    The history of United States government domestic surveillance and spying is long. Over the years, the US government has launched covert and illegal projects whose purpose among other is to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" movements for justice and freedom. Launched in March 2008, the LAPD Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) – Special Order 1 and iWATCH “See Something, Say Something” Program is one such open assault on people’s privacy and freedom, done under the pretext of “national security and the war on terror”. 1798: Congress passes four laws which come to be known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts: o June 17, 1798: The Naturalization Act increases the amount of time necessary for immigrants to become naturalized citizens in the United States from five to fourteen years; 1 o June 24, 1798: The Alien Friends Act authorizes the president to deport any resident alien considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States;”2 o July 5, 1798: The Alien Enemies Act authorizes the president to apprehend and deport resident aliens if their home countries are at war with the United States of America. This includes aliens who are not chargeable with actual hostility or other crime against the public safety;3 o July 13, 1798: The Sedition Act makes it a crime to "oppose any measure or measures of the government" as well as to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials. The Act is intended to stifle dissent.4 April 12, 1917: President Wilson persuades Congress to declare war on Germany and enter World War 1, but the American public is wary of the financial and military cost.
    [Show full text]
  • Bundestag Inquiry Into BND and NSA 21.12.16 15:47
    Bundestag Inquiry into BND and NSA 21.12.16 15:47 English | Deutsch (/bnd-nsa/sitzungen/11/index.de.html) Bundestag Inquiry into BND and NSA Hearings (https://wikileaks.org/bnd-nsa/sitzungen/) Search (https://search.wikileaks.org/advanced? q=&words_title_only=&words_content_only=&publication_type[]=29&sort=1) Press Release (https://wikileaks.org/bnd-nsa/press/) Know more? (https://www.wikileaks.org/) 11th session of 1st German commission of inquiry Agenda Synopsis Search Inquiry Back to Calendar (/bnd- nsa/sitzungen/) List of Witnesses (/bnd-nsa/sitzungen/11/page-1.html) (/bnd- nsa/sitzungen/witnesses.html) View: HTML (/bnd-nsa/sitzungen/11/page-1.html) or PDF (/bnd- nsa/sitzungen/11/WikiLeaks_Transcript_Session_11_from_German_NSA_Inquiry.pdf) Agenda (/bnd-nsa/sitzungen/11/page-1.html) July 3, 2014, 12.00 o'clock Synopsis Stenographic Minutes Public Consultation Chairperson: Prof. Dr. Patrick Sensburg, MdB Public hearing of witnesses https://wikileaks.org/bnd-nsa/sitzungen/11/index.html Page 1 of 10 Bundestag Inquiry into BND and NSA 21.12.16 15:47 William Binney (evidence conclusion Z-3) Thomas Drake (evidence conclusion Z-29) WikiLeaks Synopsis This is the hearing of witnesses William Binney and Thomas Drake, both NSA whistleblowers. They are questioned on the current situation with regards to mass surveillance, their personal technical and organisational backgrounds, as well as the former and current state of allied governments' cooperation with the NSA. Proceedings This meeting brings the evidence (/bnd-nsa/sitzungen/11/page- 6.html#efmAf7AgN) to the inquiry of the federal print matter 18/843 by hearing Mr. William Binney and Mr. Thomas Drake as witnesses.
    [Show full text]
  • Current Events and the Constitution: Snowden and the NSA
    Educating Young People about the Constitution Current Events and the Constitution: Snowden and the NSA A mere nine months ago no one knew the name Edward Snowden. Now not a week goes by without a news story related to his revelations about the National Security Agency (NSA). No doubt your class has already begun to ponder the implications of NSA information gathering and what it says about our system of governance. Does the executive branch, which controls the NSA through the Department of Defense, have too much power? How do we resolve the tension between liberty and security? Is Snowden, who released classified information, a traitor or a whistleblower? Were his actions morally justified? While the Snowden affair is too large to cover in its entirety (please look at some of the resources below for a great roundup), from a constitutional standpoint one of the most relevant aspects of the debate over his actions is the tension between the executive's war powers and civil liberties. There are numerous restrictions on the president using the power of the military on American civilians. The Third Amendment, for example, forbids the peacetime quartering of soldiers in domestic homes, and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbids the federal government from employing military personnel to enforce U.S. domestic law. Similarly, U.S. law prohibits intelligence agencies from targeting American citizens. The National Security Act of 1947, which established the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), explicitly prohibited the agency from having "police, subpoena, law‐enforcement powers, or internal security functions." The intelligence agency reforms that emerged post‐Watergate required special court authorizations for surveillance of U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 154, Pt. 1 January 25, 2008 Mr
    868 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 154, Pt. 1 January 25, 2008 Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam Presi- This is a very controversial and dif- we are going after the bad guys, and we dent, I appreciate very much the argu- ficult subject. Frankly, nearly every- have a right to do that. And we did this ments made by the very distinguished one, with the possible exception of the program because the process that had Senator from Missouri, who is also the chairman and ranking member or been set up because of abuses with re- vice chairman of the Intelligence Com- maybe one or two others on the Intel- spect to eavesdropping and spying on mittee and possesses great experience ligence Committee, knows very little American citizens decades ago, that in this area. My point, though, is that about that which we are discussing. process was way too cumbersome, took all these arguments are for naught if Let me put up a photograph of a far too much time, and we needed to the simple courtesy of a Senator being door. This is a door in San Francisco, streamline that. That is a paraphrase. allowed to vote on his amendment is CA, a rather unremarkable photograph But there was an admission that this not honored. of a door. This is a door that is in program existed and no additional This particular amendment being AT&T’s central offices in San Fran- legal authority needed to empower the nongermane postcloture means it may cisco. A courageous employee of AT&T President to do it.
    [Show full text]