Roll Call reports today that congressional Republicans, anxious to move away from the S-CHIP debate that hurts the party, are eager for a debate this week over FISA, wiretapping, and surveillance programs. As they see it, healthcare for poor kids plays to their weaknesses; domestic spying programs play to their strengths.
[U]nlike Bush’s veto of the SCHIP bill — which was supported by a number of Republicans in the House and Senate and subsequently has caused significant heartburn for in-cycle GOP incumbents — Republicans are much more comfortable backing Bush on national security. […]
Specifically, Republicans are planning to use the kidnapping and subsequent murder of three U.S. soldiers in Iraq earlier this year to put a “human face” on the issue, the House staffer explained. According to this aide, while Democrats’ arguments about privacy may resonate with some voters, Republicans believe using real-world examples of how a weak FISA has put U.S. troops in danger will help galvanize public support for their position.
“We’re content to have the Democrats make these abstract and obtuse privacy arguments,” the aide said. “As long as we make this debate … about real world, human examples,” Republicans believe they can maintain party discipline on Bush’s veto and effectively fight Democrats in the public arena.
Now, some of you may be wondering about that kidnapping story and what it has to do with the FISA debate. As it turns out, it’s far less clear than the GOP lets on.
As long as congressional Republicans plan to keep this at the top of their list of talking points, we might as well go to the trouble of explaining why the example isn’t quite what it appears to be.
In September, DNI Mike McConnell told a congressional committee about a kidnapping in May in which Iraqi insurgents captured three U.S. troops. McConnell said we were prepared to conduct surveillance on the kidnappers, but FISA’s burdensome checks and balances delayed the process. This is the “real-world” example Republican lawmakers plan to use to highlight why the administration should have broad and unfettered abilities to conduct surveillance on anyone, with minimal oversight.
The kidnapping example, however, doesn’t stand up well to scrutiny. Here’s an AP report from a few weeks ago, exploring a timeline of events that unfolded in response to the kidnapping.
The timeline, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, showed that the Bush administration held “internal deliberations” on the “novel and complicated issues” presented by the emergency FISA request for more than four hours after the National Security Agency’s top lawyer had approved it.
Indeed, there’s ample reason to believe it was a disorganized bureaucracy, not FISA regulations, that led to delays.
To be sure, there are still angles to this that are unresolved, but if Republican makers hope to use this to justify giving the administration unfettered surveillance power, they may need to revise their talking points.
Update: Saytam has more:
1) Gonzales’ DoJ unprepared for battle. Alberto Gonzales’ Justice Department “wrangl[ed]” with intelligence officials on whether there was “probable cause” for surveillance. Filled with inept political cronies, the DoJ said it encountered “novel legal issues” that it hadn’t considered, necessitating a four hour delay.
2) DoJ missing in action. Mired in scandal, Gonzales was speaking to a group of U.S. attorneys. “Deputy AG Paul McNulty had resigned already; Solicitor General Paul Clement ‘had left the building‘; and the other responsible official, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein was not yet authorized to approve the emergency order.”
3) Emergency warrants obtainable in ‘five seconds.’ McConnell claimed an earlier FISA court ruling requiring warrants for foreign-to-foreign surveillance had caused the lag time. But to “get an emergency warrant, you just have to believe the facts support the application that someone is an agent of a foreign power,” according to a government source. “That takes approximately five seconds to establish if you’re going after an Iraqi insurgent.”
I think the GOP needs a new “human face.”