Feinstein's Folly: The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Issue:
To ensure the integrity of our nation's various agencies, which typically operate under the Executive Branch, Congress maintains oversight committees for review of their activities. One of the most important is the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) which overseas the nation's numerous intelligence agencies, both civilian and military. It is currently chaired by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.
The surveillance and collection of our personal communications and activities by the intelligence agencies, particularly the vast and continual sweeps of data by the National Security Agency (NSA) brings the SSCI's activities into sharp focus and raises questions as to its effectiveness in monitoring the intelligence agencies and their abuses against U.S. citizens.
Deception:
Dianne Feinstein and others maintain that the SSCI operates with information from the intelligence community sufficient to fill the committee's oversight role and exercises its authority with due respect to the requirements of the U.S. Constitution. This is deception.
Reality:
Today the SSCI is suffering the embarrassment of being revealed for its complicity in the secret spying conducted against all U.S. citizens by the Obama Administration and its various intelligence agencies - the NSA, CIA, FBI etc. - as well as the U.S. Postal Service in its program of tracking every piece of mail we send and receive. This committee's complicity is especially troubling because its purpose is to provide a check on the power of the Executive Branch and intelligence agencies. It is not providing this check nor is it working toward a balance. It has allowed itself to be reduced to a rubber stamp.
This is not wholly unusual, of course - Congressional committees are often more about political grandstanding than effecting justice and reform. In an earlier incarnation during the presidency of George W. Bush, for example, the SSCI was complicit in the illegal and unnecessary war the U.S. waged against Iraq. Though much of the work of these committees is done by dedicated staffers behind the scenes and not often witnessed by the general public, the results of their work are too often exploited by Congress members who answer to the call of the special interests that fund their political campaigns.
In the matter of government spying, however, we see the true costs of this charade to each and every one of us. The SSCI failed to inform the U.S. public of the massive surveillance of our private lives which is directed by the Obama Administration and the intelligence agencies with the cooperation of a complacent Congress and complacent courts. It has failed miserably in its responsibility to ensure that the government's surveillance programs do not violate our rights to privacy and due process under the law.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee chair, is spending her time criticizing the messenger who revealed the surveillance, Edward J. Snowden, rather than explaining to the public why she and her committee failed to keep the intelligence agencies in check. Senator Feinstein wants us to believe that Snowden is the criminal, the one who must answer to the law and be held accountable. The Senator is evidently blind to the facts: she and much of her committee are among the true culprits in this scandal of the U.S. government spying on its citizens. Snowden has only brought it to the light of day. Contrary to her assertions and those of some committee members, Snowden's release of information has a far more beneficial effect than any purported damaging effect. He has opened the door to open public discussion about the role of government spying on U.S. citizens and the citizens of other countries. Senator Feinstein would rather slam that door shut.
Two SSCI members, Mark Udall of Colorado and Ron Wyden of Oregon have tried to warn Congress and the public of the massive spying program - but their efforts have been obstructed by the peculiar laws which forbid them from discussing what they know even with other members of Congress, much less the public. This arrangement effectively diminishes both the balance of power within our government and the judicial recourse of citizens. The SSCI cannot possibly fulfill its oversight role when its other members, including the chair, refuse to challenge the Executive Branch on the right to open debate.
Senator Feinstein and her committee, along with President Obama and his administration, Congress, the courts and the intelligence agencies should be honest regarding their culpability in the matter of government secrecy, surveillance and violations of the U.S. Constitution. The problem is not Snowden or The Guardian, Chelsea Manning or Wikileaks, or anyone else who provids information on the details and scope of this illegal surveillance. The problem is that our government is committing the crime of unprecedented spying against its citizens - and every branch of our government, including the military and intelligence agencies, along with much of the press are doing everything in their power to not only maintain and expand this surveillance but ensure that there is no meaningful opposition by quashing discussion or redress whether it be judicial, legislative or petition.
Resolution:
Senator Feinstein's SSCI must rise to its responsibility to protect U.S. citizens and the U.S. Constitution against the continued assault by the surveillance police state. They must hold open hearings to ensure public and press participation in an ongoing examination of the nation's intelligence agencies and their impact on the rights and privacy of all U.S. citizens - and they must shut down the unconstitutional secret courts that operate with none of the public oversight or checks and balances that are the hallmarks of our society. As a nation we must respect, not prosecute whistleblowers for ensuring that our democracy is not hobbled by the illegal activities of our government. Senator Feinstein and other members of Congress who portray Snowden, Manning, The Guardian and Wikileaks as the criminals are themselves the true culprits and should be held accountable for their assault on our democracy.
To ensure the integrity of our nation's various agencies, which typically operate under the Executive Branch, Congress maintains oversight committees for review of their activities. One of the most important is the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) which overseas the nation's numerous intelligence agencies, both civilian and military. It is currently chaired by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.
The surveillance and collection of our personal communications and activities by the intelligence agencies, particularly the vast and continual sweeps of data by the National Security Agency (NSA) brings the SSCI's activities into sharp focus and raises questions as to its effectiveness in monitoring the intelligence agencies and their abuses against U.S. citizens.
Deception:
Dianne Feinstein and others maintain that the SSCI operates with information from the intelligence community sufficient to fill the committee's oversight role and exercises its authority with due respect to the requirements of the U.S. Constitution. This is deception.
Reality:
Today the SSCI is suffering the embarrassment of being revealed for its complicity in the secret spying conducted against all U.S. citizens by the Obama Administration and its various intelligence agencies - the NSA, CIA, FBI etc. - as well as the U.S. Postal Service in its program of tracking every piece of mail we send and receive. This committee's complicity is especially troubling because its purpose is to provide a check on the power of the Executive Branch and intelligence agencies. It is not providing this check nor is it working toward a balance. It has allowed itself to be reduced to a rubber stamp.
This is not wholly unusual, of course - Congressional committees are often more about political grandstanding than effecting justice and reform. In an earlier incarnation during the presidency of George W. Bush, for example, the SSCI was complicit in the illegal and unnecessary war the U.S. waged against Iraq. Though much of the work of these committees is done by dedicated staffers behind the scenes and not often witnessed by the general public, the results of their work are too often exploited by Congress members who answer to the call of the special interests that fund their political campaigns.
In the matter of government spying, however, we see the true costs of this charade to each and every one of us. The SSCI failed to inform the U.S. public of the massive surveillance of our private lives which is directed by the Obama Administration and the intelligence agencies with the cooperation of a complacent Congress and complacent courts. It has failed miserably in its responsibility to ensure that the government's surveillance programs do not violate our rights to privacy and due process under the law.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee chair, is spending her time criticizing the messenger who revealed the surveillance, Edward J. Snowden, rather than explaining to the public why she and her committee failed to keep the intelligence agencies in check. Senator Feinstein wants us to believe that Snowden is the criminal, the one who must answer to the law and be held accountable. The Senator is evidently blind to the facts: she and much of her committee are among the true culprits in this scandal of the U.S. government spying on its citizens. Snowden has only brought it to the light of day. Contrary to her assertions and those of some committee members, Snowden's release of information has a far more beneficial effect than any purported damaging effect. He has opened the door to open public discussion about the role of government spying on U.S. citizens and the citizens of other countries. Senator Feinstein would rather slam that door shut.
Two SSCI members, Mark Udall of Colorado and Ron Wyden of Oregon have tried to warn Congress and the public of the massive spying program - but their efforts have been obstructed by the peculiar laws which forbid them from discussing what they know even with other members of Congress, much less the public. This arrangement effectively diminishes both the balance of power within our government and the judicial recourse of citizens. The SSCI cannot possibly fulfill its oversight role when its other members, including the chair, refuse to challenge the Executive Branch on the right to open debate.
Senator Feinstein and her committee, along with President Obama and his administration, Congress, the courts and the intelligence agencies should be honest regarding their culpability in the matter of government secrecy, surveillance and violations of the U.S. Constitution. The problem is not Snowden or The Guardian, Chelsea Manning or Wikileaks, or anyone else who provids information on the details and scope of this illegal surveillance. The problem is that our government is committing the crime of unprecedented spying against its citizens - and every branch of our government, including the military and intelligence agencies, along with much of the press are doing everything in their power to not only maintain and expand this surveillance but ensure that there is no meaningful opposition by quashing discussion or redress whether it be judicial, legislative or petition.
Resolution:
Senator Feinstein's SSCI must rise to its responsibility to protect U.S. citizens and the U.S. Constitution against the continued assault by the surveillance police state. They must hold open hearings to ensure public and press participation in an ongoing examination of the nation's intelligence agencies and their impact on the rights and privacy of all U.S. citizens - and they must shut down the unconstitutional secret courts that operate with none of the public oversight or checks and balances that are the hallmarks of our society. As a nation we must respect, not prosecute whistleblowers for ensuring that our democracy is not hobbled by the illegal activities of our government. Senator Feinstein and other members of Congress who portray Snowden, Manning, The Guardian and Wikileaks as the criminals are themselves the true culprits and should be held accountable for their assault on our democracy.