We’re not smart enough to appreciate Barrack Obama. To cut the story short, that’s his press conference on intelligence oversight this past Friday. He proposes no changes really to current intelligence practices.
For those crediting Snowden and his odd travelogue for initiating this conversation? Here’s Obama’s ante so far: (a) a new Community website explaining that everything is constitutional; (b) a new someone called a ‘privacy officer’ at NSA with the immense power of an empty in box; (c) co-opting the Blumenthal-Udall-Wyden procedural bill proposing a special advocate to participate in select FISA proceedings to contest government representations; and (d) yet another outside group (joining President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and its Intelligence Oversight Board) to meet and do what?
A bit underwhelming. Even as opening gambit.
The Senate Democrat bill’s special advocate to represent ‘the Constitution’ in select closed FISA proceedings is small ball. Currently, the government makes its applications unopposed to the FISC. Introducing some potentially adversarial proceedings might add the possibility of considered legal debate. Possibly. It’s noteworthy that the other Senate reform bill requires FISC judges be selected from a regionally diverse background, etc.
In short, all of these steps are retroactive: designed to address specifically what went wrong 2005-2013. A classic problem of legislative reform. Fixing the past is easier than thinking from the ground up how to create a flexible structure that can adapt and address issues unforeseen today.
Speaking of structural problem, no one wants to talk about the elephant in the room. The problem isn’t FISC or even FISA. Those are symptoms.
The congressional oversight mechanism is broken. Not as it was from the mid 2000s chaos and disarray (particularly on HPSCI side). Both Committees have now recovered discipline and perhaps too much so. True, secrecy rules are important for oversight to function; we’ve long argued that since the 1980 Act passage. Yet unless there are changes that allow the full chambers to understand what it is they’re voting on when passing a law, for example, regarding FISA extensions and renewals, how can that law be considered democratically legitimate? There are ways to preserve both secrecy and democracy and we’ve lost our balance. Not to mention the problem of HPSCI/SSCI institutional capture.
Congress ultimately failed when the FISC and Administration subsequently drove a truck through the meaning of ‘relevancy’, ‘business records’, etc. in PATRIOT, etc. Yes, FISC is complicit. Yes, the Administration collectively engaged in sadly all to common linguistic evasion and outright untruthfulness. But the Congress is a co-equal branch. As much an equal as the judiciary. And shares in the failure equally.
Obama’s cynical lecture that everything was legal because his Administration jury-rigged the system with a near rubber stamp FISC to say so? Emblematic of Obama’s real historical legacy in so many different ways. When proceduralism ala Obama becomes the alpha and omega, it is the surest sign that sunlight is desperately needed.
The NSA and Alexander (as current target stand ins for the Intelligence Community) still fail to understand — after all these decades — their legitimacy is derivative. And brittle. It’s also a profound mistake to attribute their current problems to just the Manning and Snowden generations.
sglover says
Dr LS — very curious to hear your thoughts about our latest Glorious Adventure. I’ve had a bad deja vu feeling all week — did I time-warp back to 2003? Heard Kerry yammering over C-SPAN radio, and I kept thinking, The voice is different, but is sure does sound like that slimeball Wolfowitz.
I take solace in the knowledge that our liberal Democratic Party will make a stand on principle, and prevent us from Doing Something Really Stupid. Although if their vacation plans are firmed up, if they already reserved hotels and such, I can see how that might be more important.
P.S. Your captcha code gadget seems close to broken. I dunno how much control you have over that.
DrLeoStrauss says
So many facets to the Syrian matter – on the ground, regionally including but not limited to Tehran, extra regionally with Moscow and Beijing. Then add a U.S. largely bereft of a meaningful understanding of its national interest beyond tactical crisis management and at-least-we’re-not-Bush & Company. Just the near insubordination of the U.S. military alone is noteworthy.
The WH speech yesterday (Sat.) was artful dodging to punt and buy time, although beyond process, what is gained precisely remains invisible. If the top line take away is AUMF is a good idea, it seems an awfully dramatic way to affirm what even Cheney conceded as useful.
Will throw up an item on it shortly. Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend. (Will look into the captcha situation – the little blue button offers new ones if several are illegible).
DrLeoStrauss says
A succinct summary of how democratic process and oversight are frustrated in practice. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/lawmakers-say-obstacles-limited-oversight-of-nsas-telephone-surveillance-program/2013/08/10/bee87394-004d-11e3-9a3e-916de805f65d_story.html
Aldershot says
Go gently into that good Technium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Technology_Wants