[R-G] Hedges: Stop the new FISA

[Anthony Fenton]

Stop the new FISA
Allowing the new surveillance law to stand would seriously cripple our  
free press.
By Chris Hedges
July 11, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-hedges11-2008jul11,0,1553314.story

If the sweeping surveillance law signed by President Bush on Thursday  
-- giving the U.S. government nearly unchecked authority to eavesdrop  
on the phone calls and e-mails of innocent Americans -- is allowed to  
stand, we will have eroded one of the most important bulwarks to a  
free press and an open society.

The new FISA Amendments Act nearly eviscerates oversight of government  
surveillance. It allows the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to  
review only general procedures for spying rather than individual  
warrants. The court will not be told specifics about who will be  
wiretapped, which means the law provides woefully inadequate  
safeguards to protect innocent people whose communications are caught  
up in the government's dragnet surveillance program.

The law, passed under the guise of national security, ostensibly  
targets people outside the country. There is no question, however,  
that it will ensnare many communications between Americans and those  
overseas. Those communications can be stored indefinitely and  
disseminated, not just to the U.S. government but to other governments.

This law will cripple the work of those of us who as reporters  
communicate regularly with people overseas, especially those in the  
Middle East. It will intimidate dissidents, human rights activists and  
courageous officials who seek to expose the lies of our government or  
governments allied with ours. It will hang like the sword of Damocles  
over all who dare to defy the official versions of events. It leaves  
open the possibility of retribution and invites the potential for  
abuse by those whose concern is not with national security but with  
the consolidation of their own power.

I have joined an ACLU lawsuit challenging the new law along with other  
journalists, human rights organizations and defense attorneys who also  
rely on confidentiality to do their work. I have joined not only  
because this law takes aim at my work but because I believe it signals  
a serious erosion of safeguards that make possible our democratic  
state. Laws and their just application are the only protection we have  
as citizens. Once the law is changed to permit the impermissible, we  
have no recourse with which to fight back.

I spent nearly 20 years as a foreign correspondent for the New York  
Times, as well as other news organizations. I covered the conflict in  
the Middle East for seven years. I have friends and colleagues in  
Jerusalem, Gaza, Cairo, Damascus, Tehran, Baghdad and Beirut. I could  
easily be one of those innocent Americans who are spied on under the  
government's new surveillance authority.

The reach of such surveillance has already hampered my work. I was  
once told about a showdown between a U.S. warship and the Iranian navy  
that had the potential to escalate into a military conflict. I  
contacted someone who was on the ship at the time of the alleged  
incident and who reportedly had photos. His first question was whether  
my phone and e-mails were being monitored.

What could I say? How could I know? I offered to travel to see him  
but, frightened of retribution, he refused. I do not know if the man's  
story is true. I only know that the fear of surveillance made it  
impossible for me to determine its veracity. Under this law, all those  
who hold information that could embarrass and expose the lies of those  
in power will have similar fears. Confidentiality, and the  
understanding that as a reporter I will honor this confidentiality,  
permits a free press to function. Take it away and a free press  
withers and dies.

I know the cost of terrorism and the consequences of war. I have  
investigated Al Qaeda's operation in Europe and have covered numerous  
conflicts. The monitoring of suspected terrorists, with proper  
oversight, is a crucial part of our national security. But this law is  
not about keeping us safe, which can -- and should -- be done in a  
constitutional manner and with judicial oversight. It is about using  
terrorism as a pretext to permit wholesale spying and to silence  
voices that will allow us to maintain an open society.

Chris Hedges was part of the team of New York Times reporters who won  
a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for reporting on global terrorism. He is the  
author of many books, including "War Is the Force that Gives Us  
Meaning."