H.R. 4681, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, is now the law of the land and the implications are indeed ominous. (See Sec. 309 below) Rep Amash said this about it. “To be clear, Sec. 309 provides the first statutory authority for the acquisition, retention, and dissemination of US persons’ private communications obtained without legal process such as a court order or a subpoena. The administration currently may conduct such surveillance under a claim of executive authority, such as E.O. 12333. However, Congress never has approved of using executive authority in that way to capture and use Americans’ private telephone records, electronic communications, or cloud Sec 309: Requires each element of the intelligence community to adopt Attorney General-approved procedures for any intelligence collection activity not otherwise authorized by court order or subpoena that is reasonably anticipated to result in the acquisition of nonpublic telephone or electronic communications to or from a U.S. person, including communications in electronic storage, without the consent of a person who is a party to the communication. Requires the procedures to permit acquisition, retention, and dissemination of such communications but prohibit retention in excess of five years unless: the communication constitutes, or is necessary to understand or assess, foreign intelligence or counterintelligence; the communication constitutes evidence of a crime and is retained by a law enforcement agency; the communication is enciphered or reasonably believed to have a secret meaning; all parties to the communication are reasonably believed to be non-U.S. persons; retention is necessary to protect against an imminent threat to human life (in which case the information must be reported to Congress within 30 days of the date such retention is extended) or for technical assurance or compliance purposes, including a court order or discovery obligation (in which case the information must be reported to Congress annually); or the head of an element of the intelligence community approves retention for a period in excess of five years if necessary to protect U.S. national security. Requires the head of an element approving retention in excess of five years for national security purposes to certify to Congress: (1) the reasons extended retention is necessary to protect U.S. national security, (2) the duration of the retention, (3) the particular information to be retained, and (4) the measures being taken to protect the privacy interests of U.S. persons or persons located inside the United States. davidstockmanscontracorner/rep-mike-rogers-r-oceania-guts-constitution-on-way-through-revolving-door-to-k-street-pelf/
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 04:44:39 +0000
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