The House of Representatives recessed for the President's Day District Work period on February 14 without renewing the FISA surveillance powers demanded by President Bush. The point of contention between the president and the House is the inclusion of retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies, protecting them from lawsuits resulting from cooperating with federal authorities in warrantless eavesdropping on telephone calls and e-mail messages between foreign countries and the United States.

Follow this link to the original source: "House Leaves Surveillance Law to Expire"

The Senate voted 68-29 on February 12 to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) and to grant retroactive immunity for the telecom companies. President Bush praised the bill, saying it provides "fair and just liability protection to those private companies who have been sued for billions of dollars only because they are believed to have done the right thing and assisted the nation after the September 11th terrorist attacks."

The Senate version, passed with bipartisan support, notably that of Senator Jay Rockefeller (D.-W. Va.), would protect telecom companies from lawsuits resulting from cooperating with federal authorities in warrantless eavesdropping on telephone calls and e-mail messages between foreign countries and the United States.

However, the House was reluctant to approve this version, designated H.R. 3825. House Democrats wanted a temporary extension of the measure (a six-month extension was passed last summer), but the president took an all-or-nothing approach and, for the moment, got nothing.

In order to inject some clarity into this debate, it is necessary to review the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). What is it, and what is its significance for Americans’ security — and privacy?

FISA has been discussed on multiple occasions in these JBS Newsfeeds andd was the subject of an Alert posted last December 17. As was noted in that Alert:

Over the course of the post-9-11 "War on Terror" — a "war," by the way, which has never been declared by Congress, as the Constitution mandates — the Bush administration has constantly escalated its demands to engage in spying. A January 27, 2006 Justice Department policy paper, "The NSA Program to Detect and Prevent Terrorist Attacks, Myth v. Reality," complained that "FISA requires the Attorney General to determine in advance that a FISA application … will be approved by the court before an emergency authorization can be granted, and the review process itself can and does take precious time."

When it came time to renew FISA, the administration decided to close up what it perceived as one weak area in its authority, the liability of the government's private partners. A Washington Post writer noted on January 25: "The White House and Republican lawmakers are pushing to make the law permanent while also adding legal protections for telecommunications companies, which face dozens of lawsuits."

Because of the wisdom and foresight of our Founding Fathers, Americans have enjoyed a level of privacy free from government surveillance almost unmatched in the world. We cannot repeat the words of the Fourth Amendment too often:

Had modern technology existed at the time the above words were written, electronic methods of communication undoubtedly would have been added to the list of things protected. It is not enough to say that we are fighting a war against terrorism and use that as a pretext for increasing government power to the detriment of our citizens. As Thomas Jefferson noted in 1821:

The President's Day recess has bought us precious time. Americans still have time to stop the extension of FISA's powers by contacting their U.S. representative while he or she is back home during this district work period. Find the number of your representative's district office in your telephone directory, under government listings, or click here to take action online.