H.R. Bill 4681 is on its way to be signed by Obama, and contains a late addition provision (309) that may for the first time tacitly authorize the bulk collection and retention of all private communications of US persons. If you already know what I am talking about, you can skip right to the petition.
Whitehouse.gov Petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/protect-our-privacy-and-please-veto-hr-4681-aka-intelligence-authorization-act-fiscal-year-2015/lln5hN5c
“The Intelligence Authorization Act of 2015 passed in the US House of Representatives. The bill, H.R. 4681, contains Section 309, which imposes guidelines for when the intelligence community can keep some communications collected under Executive Order 12333 (EO 12333). President Reagan wrote the policy document in the 1980s to provide the framework for intelligence agency conduct. Today, it is used to justify mass surveillance of communications.” EFF.org
I would like to share some relevant excerpts from Section 309… because the wording is a bit convoluted, allow me to explain a couple things.
“Covered Communications” is a euphemism for the private communications of US persons that is collected and retained, including all electronic communications not limited to email/social media/web searches/meta-data/voice/text/pictures/videos/info-graphics/ANY electrons that you emit.
The bill also commits the fallacy of definition (using the term being defined as its definition) when defining what the “Head of an element of the intelligence community” is; a term I have never even heard used in the intel community.
The term “NonPublic” is equivalent to Private. This includes all private communications of and between non-consenting individuals, business/trade secrets, intellectual property, etc.
The following is taken straight from section 309.
Definitions:
15 “COVERED COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘‘cov-
16 ered communication’’ means any NONPUBLIC telephone
17 or electronic communication acquired WITHOUT the
18 consent of a person who is a party to the communica-
19 tion, INCLUDING communications in electronic storage. ”
20 (2) HEAD OF AN ELEMENT OF THE INTEL-
21 LIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘head of an element
22 of the intelligence community’’ means, as appro-
23 priate—
24 (A) the head of an element of the intel-
25 ligence community; or
1 (B) the head of the department or agency
2 containing such element.
The part that provides supposed authority to proceed:
20 (3) PROCEDURES.—
21 “(A) APPLICATION.—The procedures required
22 by paragraph (1) shall apply to any intelligence
23 collection activity NOT otherwise authorized by
24 court order (including an order or certification
25 issued by a court established under subsection (a)
1 or (b) of section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence
2 Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803)), sub-
3 poena, or similar legal process that is reasonably
4 anticipated to result in the acquisition of a cov-
5 ered communication to or from a United States
6 person and shall permit the acquisition, reten-
7 tion, and dissemination of covered communica-
8 tions subject to the limitation in subparagraph
9 (B).”
If you look closely at the bill, you will see that the “procedures” that have been mandated to ensure intelligence agencies are compliant are not actually written into the law, but will be determined at a later time by each “head of an element of the intelligence community.
“(1) REQUIREMENT TO ADOPT.—Not later than 2
9 years after the date of the enactment of this Act each
10 head of an element of the intelligence community shall
11 adopt procedures approved by the Attorney General
12 for such element that ensure compliance with the re-
13 quirements of paragraph (3).”
The new section additionally stipulates that information can be retained for 5 years, but then goes on to make many vaguely worded exceptions.
Do you think the Obama of 2008 would have supported this? What about the 2012 Obama? Here is a petition if you think the continued authorization of bulk collection programs should at least be debated, instead of amended and rushed through congress with procedural shortcuts.
Additional Links:
House, in rush vote, passes Intelligence Authorization Act – SCMag.com
EFF Statement on the 2015 Intelligence Authorization Bill – ENN
H.R. 4681: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 – GovTrack.us
Featured Image – SluethJournal.com