Patriot Act Déjà Vu: Republicans Push FBI Spying Bill After Orlando

mccain.burr.orlando.fbi.spying.emails.online.searches.lone.wolf_occupycorporatismSusanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Group

 

Republicans John McCain, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SAC), and Richard Burr, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) have decided to use the shooting in Orlando to add an amendment to a spending bill that gives the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) the right to access anyone’s browser history, email data, and all other digital communications under the guise of fighting terrorism.

The caveat in this measure is that the FBI would not have to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance on potential lone wolves.

While ignoring the inefficiency of the FBI in the case of Omar Mateen, the shooter in the Orlando tragedy who was of interest to the FBI twice, interviewed, and let to continue on until he finally committed a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub earlier this month.

In fact, for nearly a year, Mateen was under FBI surveillance in 2013, and then again in 2014 without the FBI acting on the allowances at their disposal now to monitor Mateen and stop him.

Now republicans see this tragedy as a way to install more surveillance over people on the internet, instead of addressing the breakdown that occurring within the FBI that failed to prevent Mateen from carrying out his deadly plot.

McCain and Burr are pushing for changes to the FBI’s power structure because of the Orlando shooting; and using the Islamic terrorism aspects of this tragedy to justify this action.

The amendment hands over funding to the FBI and the Department of Justice (DoJ) in order to use national security letters (NSLs) to obtain any and all electronic communications in order to catch the criminal before he commits a crime.

But it also permanently gives the government the ability to conduct surveillance on suspected lone wolves without establishing a connection to any known terror group; thereby extending the provision in the USA Freedom Act that was set to expire in 2019.

Language used in this amendment is identical to another bill the SIC passed sponsored by Cronyn who took verbiage from the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) which did not pass the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC).

Adding more pressure, Senator John Cronyn said earlier this week: “Our failure to act to grant this authority, particularly in the wake of this terrible tragedy in Orlando, would be inexcusable. This is something the FBI director appointed by President Obama had said he needs. He said this is their number one legislative priority. … We owe it to those on the front lines of our counter-terrorism efforts to get them what they need.”

The American Civil Liberties Union and Senator Ron Wyden both agree this amendment would “erode many of the reforms” to the Patriot Act that Congress enacted last year. Wyden went as far as to accuse the FBI of “not wanting to do paperwork”.

The senator also pointed out the FBI “already has the power to demand these electronic records with a court order” and can even circumvent that in emergencies.

Tech corporations such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have also added their disdain for this measure.

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