Bush Administration Thought FISA Worked Just Fine Back In 2002

by Steve

Want to see a post that destroys the Bush Administration's claims that the current FISA hampers their ability to conduct "terrorist (or Quaker) surveillance? Read Glenn Greenwald's post about what the Bush Administration said in opposing GOP senator Mike DeWine's 2002 bill that would have lowered the evidentiary threshold for non-Americas under FISA, from probable cause to reasonable suspicion. Why did the Bush Administration oppose a GOP senator's attempt to lower the bar back in 2002 down from "probable cause"? Because they said in 2002, months after they had already begun shredding the FISA, that the current system was working fine and provided enough flexibility without compromising anti-terror investigations should the lower standard in the DeWine bill be found unconstitutional.

So then why would Hayden say yesterday that they needed to do what they did because FISA is too restrictive? Because the Bush Administration doesn't want the FISA court to know who they really have been spying upon, and how they have gathered evidence.

Read the Greenwald piece for more information.