Americans now safer with Act on national security
- Jul 15, 2008 - 1
Score one for the American people and the telecommunications companies that partnered with the government to help thwart attacks on our homeland following the horrific events of September 11, 2001.
After a year of political wrangling, Congress agreed to a sweeping overhaul of an intelligence-gathering law to help protect Americans from future attacks on U.S. soil and to grant retroactive immunity to telecom companies that admirably cooperated with the government in monitoring phone calls with terrorist networks. The break in the political deadlock July 9 came just weeks before critical authorizations to monitor terrorist communications were set to expire.
A hearty applause is fitting for all those who encouraged their congressman and senators to support the bill.
The update to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) enables our intelligence agencies to track communications placed into or out of the United States with known or suspected terrorists. This intelligence-gathering authorization, signed into law by President Bush one day after the smoke cleared on Capitol Hill, peels back much of the red tape in monitoring terrorist networks. It requires, for example, that the special FISA court approve warrants for programs in general to intercept communications rather than individual communications. Equally important, it sends a strong message that the U.S. government will reward, not reprimand, companies that assist the government in its efforts to identify terrorist suspects.
What had held up the modification of the law was refusal by a handful of senators to protect telecom companies—the very groups that helped to protect all Americans—from roughly 40 lawsuits totaling in the billions of dollars slapped upon them for their patriotic service. Mounting grassroots pressure, along with a compromise provision to require more judicial and congressional oversight, led to inclusion of these protections in the bill passed by a more than 2-to-1 margin in both the House and Senate.
The only real losers amid this victory are trial lawyers wishing to line their pockets and Islamic extremists who pursue our destruction and relish in merciless killings in the name of their god, Allah.
In these unsettled times, our intelligence agencies must not be hamstrung from using technological tools to preserve our liberty and promote its acceptance abroad. The enemy we face today is unlike our foes in wars of generations past. Ours is an enemy that knows no rules and has no regard for human life. Guided by a radical interpretation of Islam, these extremists consider the slaying of those who do not submit to their religion as not only acceptable political practice but also dutiful religious service.
To meet this force with anything less than the greatest possible resistance would be an empty honorarium to those who have sacrificed before us to make us free. Many in Washington, gratefully, seem to see it that way, too.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to monitor issues of public policy in America, such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). If you would like to help us continue our efforts, please click here.
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1 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Jul 15th, 2008, at 1:47pm, Manny Tomes wrote:
In the time-honored words of Benjamin Franklin, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” But by all means let’s protect the big corporations. I’m sure there is some biblical justification for that.