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| Obama may release edited opinions of surveillance court |
| 2013-06-22 |
| In response to congressional demands, the Obama administration is considering disclosing portions of classified opinions by the secret court that oversees the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. "We would like to release into the public domain as much of this as we can without compromising national security," Robert Litt, the top lawyer for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, told Congress last week. Liberals in Congress have been pressing the administration for years _ without success _ to release the classified orders by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which rules in secret on surveillance requests from the Justice Department and the intelligence community. The disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden _ including an order from the court that showed the Patriot Act was being used to justify the collection of virtually all Americans' calling records _ have emboldened congressional critics and sent Obama officials scrambling to show that the FISA court's role in regulating surveillance is meaningful. The court, made up of 11 judges appointed by the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, convenes in a secure portion of the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. Its oversight takes place without public scrutiny and documents show that the court rarely denies a request from the government. Yet officials who have been briefed on the process say the court often demands changes in the scope of surveillance orders before approving them. "I think they will end up declassifying at least portions of the opinions," said Rep. Adam Schiff , D-Calif., who introduced a bill last week requiring it. "I think they recognize it's in their interest now." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 Edited? Is this like "redacted" pages where the entire page is blank or black? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-06-22 10:49 |
| #1 That irritating drip, drip, drip again. So distracting. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-06-22 09:28 |