House Judiciary Committee Press Release - Committee Approval

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Osama’s Fatwa to Nuke 10 Million Americans, Sec. 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and The USA Liberty Act --

In focusing on Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s “Heretic” which calls for a “reformation” of Radical Islam, we should also recall why Radical Islam is so dangerous and how, as we studied for our 5/10/2017 meeting on “Authoritarian Rule by Our Intelligence Services,” George Orwell’s “1984” may be just around the corner as a result of the power they have to gather information on Americans under FISA Sec. 702.

In this regard, it should be noted that FSIA Sec. 702 expires on 12/31/2017 unless it is renewed.

The USA Liberty Act was proposed this fall by Chairman Robert Goodlatte of the House Judiciary Committee and reported to the floor on 11/8/2017 by the Committee.

The salient change to FISA Sec. 702 is that although the intelligence services are still permitted to gather meta-data -- “when attempting to access CONTENT after querying for a crime, the government must first obtain a probable-cause based order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), subject to some exceptions….” (quoting from Chairman Goodlatte’s description of the Act on his website).

HOWEVER, when questioned by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) during House Judiciary Committee hearings this morning (Nov. 14), Attorney General Sessions testified that the U.S. Justice Department OPPOSES such tightening of FISA Sec. 702.

A quick but extremely brief review of what we have learned in past studies --

(1) Osama’s fatwa to nuke 10 million Americans was the focus of a famous book by the Founding Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Graham Allison entitled “Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe.”

(2) Graham Allison recommendations have NOT been followed despite the endorsement and exhaustive supportive efforts of former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman 1987-1995), U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman 2003-2007) and Messrs. Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton (Chair and Co-Chair of The 9/11 Commission).

(3) And despite the efforts of Tim Russert to publicize the efforts of Nunn/Lugar/Kean/Hamilton on Meet The Press and Tom Brokaw’s participation in a Docu-Drama produced by Nunn/Lugar/Kean/Hamilton.

(4) Fatwas can NOT be revoked following the death of the person who issued the fatwa – as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei informed the Brits when they sought to have revoked Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa to assassinate Salman Rushdie during negotiations to restore diplomatic relations following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.

(5) Fatwa’s are the solemn religious duty of every follower of the person who issued the fatwa – which in the case of Osama’s fatwa to nuke 10 million Americans includes every member of Al Qaeda and every member of ISIS (formerly Al Qaeda in Iraq).

(6) It would appear that even though Dean Graham Allison’s recommendations have not been implemented, the reason why America has not long since suffered a nuclear attack from Al Qaeda and/or ISIS (as most experts were predicting was imminent following 9/11 and, for movie buffs, was the topic of several Hollywood movies) is because of FISA Sec. 702’s extraordinary grant of power to our intelligence services to spy on terrorists, including their communications with American citizens.
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johnkarls
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House Judiciary Committee Press Release - Committee Approval

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goodlatte.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1037

Press Releases
House Judiciary Committee Approves USA Liberty Act

Washington, November 8, 2017 | Beth Breeding (2022255431) | 0 comments

The House Judiciary Committee today approved by a vote of 27-8 the USA Liberty Act (H.R. 3989), a bipartisan bill that reforms and reauthorizes Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to protect both national security and Americans’ civil liberties. The bill was introduced last month by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Representative John Rutherford (R-Fla.), and Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).

The USA Liberty Act preserves the core purpose of Section 702: the collection of communications by targeting non-U.S. persons located outside the U.S. in order to identify and thwart terrorist plots against our nation and our citizens. The bill also creates a new framework of protections and transparency requirements to ensure that the government’s use of Section 702 accords with principles enshrined in our Constitution that protect individual liberty. It provides new accountability measures to address the unmasking of U.S. persons’ identities and new reporting requirements on the number of U.S. persons who have been swept up in Section 702 collection. The bill also enhances national security by increasing penalties for those who leak classified information and calling on the intelligence agencies to share information with each other and with our allies to combat terrorism. A summary of the bill can be found here.

Chairman Goodlatte released the following statement on today’s Committee passage of the USA Liberty Act:

“The USA Liberty Act is a carefully drafted, bipartisan bill that protects Americans’ lives and their civil liberties. This bill reauthorizes a critical national security tool that keeps Americans safe, FISA Section 702, but also reforms it to protect Americans’ constitutional rights. It contains more accountability, transparency, and oversight so that the American people have confidence that our cherished liberties continue to be protected as the intelligence community keeps us safe from foreign enemies wishing to harm our nation and citizens. The bill also contains a number of measures to further enhance national security so that our country remains free and safe.

“As FISA Section 702 is set to expire at the end of the year, the USA Liberty Act is the best legislative solution to preserve this important national security tool while also providing for much needed reforms. I urge the House to vote on the USA Liberty Act soon so that the intelligence community is able to identify and thwart terrorist plots while Americans’ constitutional rights are better protected.”

Background: FISA Section 702, which will expire on December 31, 2017, authorizes surveillance of the communications of non-U.S. persons located outside of the United States in order to protect national security. It reportedly contributes to a quarter of all National Security Agency surveillance and has been used on multiple occasions to detect and prevent horrific terrorist plots against our country. Although Congress designed this authority to target non-U.S. persons located outside of the United States, it is clear that Section 702 surveillance programs can and do incidentally collect information about U.S. persons when U.S. persons communicate with the foreign targets of Section 702 surveillance.

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