Presidential Power to Kill Suspects?

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February 09, 2006
Presidential Power to Kill Suspects?
Spying on American Citizens

Presidential Power to Kill Suspects?

Can the President Order the Killing of Terrorist 'Suspects' on U.S. Soil?In the latest twist in the debate over presidential powers, a Justice Department official suggested that in certain circumstances, the president might have the power to order the killing of terrorist suspects inside the United States. Steven Bradbury, acting head of the department's Office of Legal Counsel, went to a closed-door Senate intelligence committee meeting last week to defend President George W. Bush's surveillance program. During the briefing, said administration and Capitol Hill officials (who declined to be identified because the session was private), California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked Bradbury questions about the extent of presidential powers to fight Al Qaeda; could Bush, for instance, order the killing of a Qaeda suspect known to be on U.S. soil? Bradbury replied that he believed Bush could indeed do this, at least in certain circumstances.

The Republican Ideology of the Total State

The controversy that has erupted since news broke of Bush’s secret, extra-constitutional NSA spying program, has, like most controversies, offered libertarians very few heroes to root for. No one of any prominence is calling for the abolition of the NSA. No one is saying that FISA itself should be scrapped. Senate Democrats complain they weren’t in the loop, and insist that, had they been included, they would have signed off on anything the Bush regime wanted. All the administration would have had to do is say pretty please, and the opposition party would not have put up any fight whatever. The Republicans, on the other hand, can’t stand even having to say pretty please. They believe that the president has the "inherent authority" to do anything he wants, without asking a soul.

Bush Faces Republican Revolt Over Spying

Congressional Republicans are threatening to force a legal showdown with President George W. Bush over his claim that he has the constitutional power to order domestic surveillance of Americans in the name of national security. Arlen Specter, Republican chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, said on Wednesday he was drafting legislation that would require the administration to seek a ruling from a special US intelligence court on whether the spying programme was legal. On its face, the programme appears to violate the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), in which Congress required that domestic eavesdropping for intelligence purposes could only be done with warrants from a special court set up under Fisa.

Program May Have Led Improperly to WarrantsTwice in the past four years, a top Justice Department lawyer warned the presiding judge of a secret surveillance court that information overheard in President Bush's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to obtain wiretap warrants in the court, according to two sources with knowledge of those events. The two heads of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court were the only judges in the country briefed by the administration on Bush's program. The president's secret order, issued sometime after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, allows the National Security Agency to monitor telephone calls and e-mails between people in the United States and contacts overseas.Many in Congress say Bush out of line

They insist 'necessary force' resolution doesn't OK spyingWashington -- Just what Congress meant on Sept. 14, 2001, when it authorized President Bush "to use all necessary and appropriate force'' to fight "those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks'' of three days earlier is at the center of the roiling dispute over the administration's domestic spying. The Bush administration cites the resolution for the authorization of military force as a legal basis for the president's order for the secret National Security Agency to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails without a warrant issued by a special court. But many in Congress, from both parties, say they authorized no such thing when they granted Bush the right to wage war against al Qaeda, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

White House Gives Details on Surveillance

After weeks of insisting it would not reveal details of its eavesdropping without warrants, the White House reversed course Wednesday and provided a House committee with highly classified information about the operations. The White House has been under heavy pressure from lawmakers who wanted more information about the National Security Agency's monitoring. Democrats and many Republicans rejected the administration's implicit suggestion that they could not be trusted with national security secrets. The shift came the same day Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., announced he is drafting legislation that would require the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to review the administration's monitoring program and determine if it is constitutional.

White House Agrees to Brief Congress on NSA Surveillance

Responding to congressional pressure from both parties, the White House agreed yesterday to give lawmakers more information about its domestic surveillance program, although the briefings remain highly classified and limited in scope. Despite the administration's overture, several prominent Republicans said they will pursue legislation enabling Congress to conduct more aggressive oversight of the National Security Agency's warrantless monitoring of Americans' phone calls and e-mails. Recent disclosure of the four-year-old program has alarmed civil libertarians and divided the GOP, with many Republicans defending the operation and others calling for more information and regulation.

Posted by Editor at February 9, 2006 07:14 AM
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