As we ring in the new legislative year, the ACLU thought it would be appropriate to have a little countdown of our own. The FISA Amendments Act of 2007 hits the Senate floor once again next week, and what better time to revisit some of the best and most overlooked FISA-related news stories?
We’ll be posting one a day until the Senate returns on January 22nd in an effort to make sure these stories get the attention and follow-through they deserved.
Without further ado, our first Great Unsung Hit of the FISA Debate is:
Phone companies were approached by the NSA before 9/11
As reported in the Rocky Mountain News and National Journal this past October, the telecommunications company Qwest was approached as early as February of 2001 – seven months before the attacks of September 11, 2001 – to participate in a classified NSA program. CEO Joseph Nacchio refused and Qwest was, allegedly, denied a lucrative government contract as a result.
What it means
• Contrary to what the administration has consistently claimed, the telecoms and the government were not acting out of patriotic duty when they began working outside the bounds of FISA to conduct surveillance – they were discussing illegal programs long before 9/11 occurred.
• The facts also suggest that other lucrative non-classified contracts appear to be used as rewards for those who participated in illegal conduct. And, at the very worst, the government may have used the criminal justice system to punish a CEO who refused to participate in illegal programs.
Why it matters
• The administration has been seeking broader domestic spying powers for years and has been shamelessly using terrorism and national security as a pretext to justify eviscerating the Fourth Amendment. Not only that, it may have been using government contracts as rewards. Allowing an administration-sanctioned FISA bill to be passed will only legitimize the backroom power grab that began, as far as we know, in early 2001.
• If Qwest was approached in early 2001, we can only assume that the other phone companies were as well. With that revelation, it would be incredibly naïve to think that retroactive immunity for the phone companies is justified by the exigent circumstances of 9/11. Congress must investigate these claims of pre-9/11 NSA programs before it closes the courthouse door forever.