Last week we saw dramatic new evidence of illegal government surveillance
of our telephone calls, and of the National Security Agency's deep penetration
into American companies such as Facebook and Microsoft to spy on us. The media
seemed shocked.
Many of us are not so surprised.
Some of us were arguing back in 2001 with the introduction of the so-called
PATRIOT Act that it would pave the way for massive US government surveillance
-- not targeting terrorists but rather aimed against American citizens. We
were told we must accept this temporary measure to provide government the
tools to catch those responsible for 9/11. That was nearly twelve years and
at least four wars ago.
We should know by now that when it comes to government power-grabs, we never
go back to the status quo even when the "crisis" has passed. That part of
our freedom and civil liberties once lost is never regained. How many times
did the PATRIOT Act need renewed? How many times did FISA authority need expanded?
Why did we have to pass a law to grant immunity to companies who hand over
our personal information to the government?
It was all a build-up of the government's capacity to monitor us.
The reaction of some in Congress and the Administration to last week's leak
was predictable. Knee-jerk defenders of the police state such as Senator Lindsey
Graham declared that he was "glad" the government was collecting Verizon phone
records -- including his own -- because the government needs to know what
the enemy is up to. Those who take an oath to defend the Constitution from
its enemies both foreign and domestic should worry about such statements.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers tells us of the tremendous
benefits of this Big Brother-like program. He promises us that domestic terrorism
plots were thwarted, but he cannot tell us about them because they are classified.
I am a bit skeptical, however. In April, the New York Times reported that
most of these domestic plots were actually elaborate sting operations developed
and pushed by the FBI. According to the Times report, "of the 22 most frightening
plans for attacks since 9/11 on American soil, 14 were developed in sting
operations."
Even if Chairman Rogers is right, though, and the program caught someone up
to no good, we have to ask ourselves whether even such a result justifies
trashing the Constitution. Here is what I said on the floor of the House when
the PATRIOT Act was up for renewal back in 2011:
"If you want to be perfectly safe from child abuse and wife beating, the
government could put a camera in every one of our houses and our bedrooms,
and maybe there would be somebody made safer this way, but what would you
be giving up? Perfect safety is not the purpose of government. What we
want from government is to enforce the law to protect our liberties."
What most undermines the claims of the Administration and its defenders about
this surveillance program is the process itself. First the government listens
in on all of our telephone calls without a warrant and then if it finds something
it goes to a FISA court and get an illegal approval for what it has already
done! This turns the rule of law and due process on its head.
The government does not need to know more about what we are doing. We need
to know more about what the government is doing. We need to turn the cameras
on the police and on the government, not the other way around. We should be
thankful for writers like Glenn Greenwald, who broke last
week's story, for taking risks to let us know what the government is doing.
There are calls for the persecution of Greenwald and the other whistle-blowers
and reporters. They should be defended, as their work defends our freedom.
