"Presidents throughout American History have used the threat of war or emergency to expand presidential powers in ways that later seemed unrelated or unnecessary to the crisis."
Jack Goldsmith's newest book hit the stores yesterday. The Terror Presidency has been much awaited since Jack's name really hit the news in May after more details of the March 10th bedside visit to John Ashcroft by Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales were exposed. The details from his new book on this event mirror almost exactly those of James Comey and FBI Director Robert Mueller. The major difference is that Goldsmith does use the name "terrorist surveillance program" which the other two do not give directly.
Join me below to learn a few more details from the book and see it is worth your $$.
Goldsmith's book mixes law analysis, historical perspective in excess, and a great view inside the minds and objectives of those who have given us torture, renditions, surveillance programs and the Unitary executive policy that emanates from Cheney and his "eyes, ears, and voice" in the person of David Addington. He presents the details of his time in DOD and in the OLC office of DOJ during 2002-2004 in a very readable manner. I really enjoyed the sections that he pulls from the administrations of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt as war time presidents. For many of you who simply want to see the details behind the power of Bush and Cheney, you will need to pick and choose your reading because it is loaded with this perspective.
For those of you who expect Jack Goldsmith to spill the beans on Alberto or David Addington, I'm afraid you won't find it in this book. Yet, there is hope. I was especially pulled by the fact that Goldsmith just recently had to testify in Washington, DC about the "leaking" of the warrantless surveillance program to James Risen and Eric Lichtblau in the December 19th, 2005 article that started us down the pass where we find ourselves today. Prior to that date, I would venture that less than 20% of Kossacks even knew about the FISA Court, who was on it, or what it did?
Just this past April 27th, 2007, Goldsmith was visited by "Doe and Smith" from the FBI who were heading up the leak for the FBI and DOJ. This was his second approach from the FBI. The first occurred about 6 months earlier and he had spent hours talking with agents about his contacts with New York Times and all writers for the paper. He actually had spent about an hour with Eric Lichtblau in October 2004 about 4 months after he left the OLC. According to the book near the end of this one hour meeting for lunch with Eric Lichtblau, he suddenly changed the subject and ask about "this secret NSA program". Based upon this detail, the NYT's was already on the hunt. Again, this is over a year before the program was disclosed in the paper. Goldsmith lied and denied any knowledge of any program and immediately after the meeting went to James Comey's office to report this interview and I'm sure to CHA (cover his a..).
Getting this subpoena from DOJ really pissed him off. First, it cost him $$ to hire attorneys to advise him before he was to go in and testify. The Libby case was very much in the news and he certainly wasn't going to get caught in lapses of memory that may place himself next to Libby. The second reason that he was upset was that this subpoena came directly from a Gonzales led DOJ. The FBI agents were sympathetic to his position and shared some details that you have to read between the lines but you understand that Gonzales was behind this "shot over the bow".
For those of you who want a hero with Goldsmith. Take a look at this quote from him in the book.
It seemed crazy to require the Commander-in-Chief and his subordinates to get a judges's permission to listen to each communication under a legal regime that was designed before technological revolution bought us high speed fiber-optic networks, the public internet email, and ten dollar cell phones
This lets you know that Goldsmith agreed that the FISA Court was a problem. You see Goldsmith is a true believer.But here is the caveat. Goldsmith knew that unlike the situation with Lincoln and Roosevelt in their expanding of Presidential power, there were very real legal hurdles in place with the FISA law that would ensnare Bush, Cheney, and Addington. Of course, the whole reason for the OLC with its now 22 lawyers on staff is to keep the President out of jail.
One of the key points of the book hit me right between the eyes. Every day, the President and other high security officials are given a "security matrix" which often goes on for 20-25 pages. It is the research from the past 24 hours only of threats that have been uncovered.
It includes warnings extracted from tens of millions of foreign phone callsand email messages that fly around the world each day from scores of human informants, from satellite photographs, and other sources.
Well, didn't we all know this? But what was evident was that because we have better, quicker, and more thorough surveillance on citizens, the paranoia becomes more amplified. Over and over, he was rationalizing the fear and secrecy of the Bush administration. It was evident that this paranoia is a self-fulfilling problem. It will never end. It explains why Cheney hides out in his cave like Osama. He's scared s..tless!
It was obvious that Goldsmith saw his role as how to allow Cheney, Addington, and Bush from stepping over the line but still allow a few "cleat marks in the chalk".
Goldsmith wanted the Bush administration to use its "soft side" skills to work with Congress and the Courts to convince them of the dangers of terrorism. This was one argument that he never, ever won. Addington shot him down on every point. Gonzales was useless. Although he never directly said so, it was obvious that Gonzales was inept, very pliable by Addington, extremely loyal to Bush and weak as water on the law as it related to security and international law. Goldsmith quotes Potter Stewart with his famous quote of "when everything is classified, then nothing is classified". The actual quote is longer but you should get the picture. More secrecy leads to more leaks!
I'll leave you with one last quote from Goldsmith which I thought was the most interesting and deserves lots of print. I have not seen this anywhere in other news media on the book. He was talking about why the administration continued to use secrecy and avoidance in pushing the Unitary presidency. It goes like this...
The answer, I believe, is that the administration's conception of power had a kind of theological significance that often triumphed political consequences.
Hubris, maybe! Arrogant, definitely! God-like, maybe! He doesn't expand on this concept but from his consistent admonishing of the administration on not pulling in Congress, the public, and the courts into this war on terror, it is evident that by their actions to expand the Unitary presidency, they have failed and it will be weaker.
There were lots of other great info. I'm a fast reader and I went through the book in about 3 hours while enjoying some coffee at Barnes and Noble. As much as I read, I can't afford to buy but 1-2 books a week. I've got to save some money for my coffee and beer. Have a good day.