(via email)
As a result of the irresponsible and reckless insistence by Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and David Obey that telephone companies who are working with the President to protect our nation should be subjected to unlimited frivolous lawsuits, our intelligence capabilities have been blinded and deafened. Of course, our local Democrats, Gabby Giffords and Raul Grijalva were right there close, very close, behind them in supporting this reckless and dangerous action.
Because the House did not pass new FISA legislation approved by the Senate, the intelligence community can’t collect information on new terrorists or plots or old targets using new methods of communication without obtaining a warrant from the FISA court.
It takes just a few seconds to change your email address, or use a different website or to get a different cell phone number. It takes days now for the intelligence community to get a warrant because of this inaction by the Democrats in the House. By the time the court grants the warrant the target has moved on. Telephone companies and internet providers don’t want to help any more because they can’t survive the lawsuits without government immunity.
The terrorists want to destroy us and our way of life. The House Democrats are aiding and abetting the terrorists by prohibiting the intelligence community from conducting surveillance of the terrorists’ communications. Remember this in November.
What They’re Saying;
“The Democratic Leadership Allowed Our Intelligence Gathering To Be Compromised”
House Leadership’s Failure To Vote On Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Bill “Simply Unconscionable,” “Every Day We Don’t Fix This Problem, The Problem … Metastasizes”
“The House Adjourned … Rather Than Act On Legislation To Strengthen The Ability Of U.S. Intelligence Agencies To Monitor Foreign Terrorist Telephone Calls And E-Mails“
The Wall Street Journal: “What we have here is a remarkable display of the anti-antiterror minority at work.” ”[Silvestre] Reyes claims that existing wiretap orders can stay in place for a year. But that doesn’t account for new targets, which may require new kinds of telecom cooperation and thus a new court order. Mr. Reyes can make all the assertions he wants about immunity, but they are no defense against a lawsuit. For that matter, without a statute in place, even a renewed order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is likely to be challenged as illegitimate. A telecom CEO who cooperates without a court order is all but guaranteed to get not merely a wiretap lawsuit, but also a shareholder suit for putting the company at legal risk.” (Editorial, “Pelosi’s Wiretap Offensive,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/19/08)
· “We asked one phone company executive what he’d do, after Friday’s expiration, in response to a government request for cooperation. His answer was blunt: ‘I’m not doing it.’” ”‘If I don’t have compulsion, I can’t get out of court [and those lawsuits]. . . . I’m not going to do something voluntarily.’ Having talked to telecom executives, we can tell you this view is well-nigh universal.”
The Washington Times: “Thanks to [Democratic Leaders], the House adjourned Thursday until Feb. 25 rather than act on legislation to strengthen the ability of U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor foreign terrorist telephone calls and e-mails under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.” “Given the fact that 21 relatively moderate Blue Dog Democrats led by Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas have signed a letter to Mrs. Pelosi urging her to yield on FISA, the speaker realized that she was in danger of suffering yet another humiliating political defeat on the issue. So she pulled the bill from the floor and sent the House on vacation. … Thus far, Mrs. Pelosi and her friends have responded contemptuously to the security concerns expressed by National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell. The most critical question now is whether Mr. Ross and his fellow Blue Dogs can somehow persuade Mrs. Pelosi that pandering to the kook fringe on national security will damage her politically.” (Editorial, “Pelosi’s Shameful Pandering,” The Washington Times, 2/18/08)
“Delay In Congressional Action Deters Cooperation In Detecting Terrorism”
The Weekly Standard‘s William Kristol: “[F]or the House Democrats, sticking it to the phone companies – and to the Bush administration – seemed to outweigh erring on the side of safety in defending the country.” “[T]he Democratic House leadership balked – particularly at the notion of protecting from lawsuits companies that had cooperated with the government in surveillance efforts after Sept. 11. Director McConnell repeatedly explained that such private-sector cooperation is critical to antiterror efforts, in surveillance and other areas, and that it requires the assurance of immunity. ‘Your country is at risk if we can’t get the private sector to help us, and that is atrophying all the time,’ he said.” (William Kristol, Op-Ed, “Democrats Should Read Kipling,” The New York Times, 2/18/08)
· “When they say this is important for our national security, the Congress – to block this legislation I find pretty amazing.” “I think it’s kind of unbelievable, frankly. It’s a judgment call. We don’t know. Not to give the administration the benefit of the doubt when they have career people, military people, intelligence people like Mike McConnell and Mike Hayden, and the attorney general, Mike Mukasey – I mean, these are not political hacks. These are not ideological people.” (Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday,” 2/17/08)
The National Review Online‘s Rich Lowry: “House leaders shrug and say that the essential authorities remain in place for another six months. This is a dodge.” “House Democrats tell themselves they are striking a blow against the politics of fear. But only if we suffer another mass-casualty terror attack will a politics of untrammeled fear be unleashed on the land. Best to do all we can to avoid it, especially when it involves nonviolations of the nonrights of non-Americans.” (Rich Lowry, Op-Ed, “Whose Politics Of Fear,” The National Review Online, 2/19/08)
Columnist Robert Novak: ”The recess by House Democrats amounts to a judgment that losing the generous support of trial lawyers, the Democratic Party’s most important financial base, would be more dangerous than losing the anti-terrorist issue to Republicans.” “Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the phone companies for giving individuals’ personal information to intelligence agencies without a warrant. Mike McConnell, the nonpartisan director of national intelligence, says delay in congressional action deters cooperation in detecting terrorism.” (Robert D. Novak, Op-Ed, “Why Torts Trumped Terrorism,” The Washington Post, 2/18/08)
The National Review Online’s Andrew McCarthy: “Democrats who claim that people like McConnell are engaged in partisan fear-mongering are talking nonsense.” “And as McConnell noted this morning, every day we don’t fix this problem, the problem – the investigative leads you don’t get, the connections you don’t make, the things you don’t learn but which you should know – metastasizes. Intelligence is dynamic: you can’t stop collecting for a day, a week, a month or more and then figure you are picking up right where you left off. What you have lost tends to stay lost.” (Andrew McCarthy, Op-Ed, “Dems Accuse Bush Administration Of Politicized Fear-Mongering On FISA,” The National Review Online, 2/17/08)
The Washington Times’ Frank Gaffney: “While the House of Representatives is vacationing this week, terrorists are probably communicating about plots to kill Americans without fear that their plans will be intercepted by U.S. intelligence.” ”If one or more of those mortal plots are, as a result, succeed, we won’t need an independent commission to assign blame. The buck will stop squarely at the desk of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who refused to allow a vote on permanent renewal of the Protect America Act (PAA).” (Frank J. Gaffney, Op-Ed, “Wrong Call On Telecoms,” The Washington Times, 2/19/08)
“This Partisan Gamesmanship Endangers Our National Security”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “This is the Democratic allegiance to the plaintiff’s bar. They’re more interested in seeing companies in court than they are seeing terrorists in jail. This is all about the liability issue.” “Director of National Intelligence McConnell is telling us, starting this morning, on another network, the facts, which are that we have a degrading capability to intercept terrorist communications.” (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 2/17/08)
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO): “This is no exaggeration. The Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General of the United States, in a letter to the Senate Majority Leader earlier this year, wrote that if the Congress failed to act our ability to obtain intelligence information would be weakened.” “The Democratic leadership allowed our intelligence gathering to be compromised, because they failed to pass a bill by a deadline that they themselves set. … The House’s failure to act is a gross dereliction of our constitutional duty to stand for the nation’s defense.” (Rep. Roy Blunt, “Blunt On Expiration Of Key Intelligence Law,” Press Release, 2/16/08)
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Pete Hoekstra (R-MI): “The ability of our country to detect and prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and our allies will begin to deteriorate immediately upon the expiration of the Protect America Act.” “It is unconscionable for the Democratic leadership – which represents a minority of the House on the issue – to abuse its power to block consideration of this critical national security bill and to prevent a fair vote on the House floor. … [T]his partisan gamesmanship endangers our national security as well as the national security of our allies overseas who are assisted by the U.S. Intelligence Community. … It is irresponsible to suggest that the existing certifications will cover all potentially needed surveillance. It is unclear whether a court would find any directives under the PAA enforceable once the Act expires.” (Pete Hoekstra, Letter To Chairman Silvestre Reyes Of Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence, 2/15/08)
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX): “So the decision by the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives to leave Washington yesterday without passing this very important bill is simply unconscionable.” ”They are playing chicken with America’s security and American’s lives. … What’s worse, at the same time the hands of our intelligence community are being tied, terrorist activity and terrorist plots will continue.” (Sen. John Cornyn, “Cornyn: America’s Security Put At Greater Risk With Expiration Of Protect America Act,” Press Release, 2/16/08)
