Why Warrantless Wiretapping Must Be Stopped
- The Fourth Amendment is clear. Domestic electronic
surveillance of this sort requires a warrant. A warrant allows a
judge to serve as a check against executive abuse of power. That
check keeps our government honest -- preventing one branch of government
from mischief and errors.
- The President has broken the law. He must stop
warrantless eavesdropping and collecting records on all our phone
calls and come clean with the American people about any further
secret powers he claims as Commander-in-Chief.
- The government can already listen if al-Qaeda is calling.
The administration's claim that it must break the law to protect
us from al-Qaeda are just plain false: Any communications specifically
targeting an al-Qaeda member outside the U.S. doesn't even need
a warrant, and FISA judges are available 24/7 to issue warrants
to wiretap any suspected al-Qaeda in the U.S.-- even if those calls
include U.S. citizens or residents.
- The NSA program duplicates pre-9/11 information overload
and potential intelligence failures. Overburdening the
FBI with thousands of false leads makes us less safe because it
leaves them less time and fewer resources to find the real terrorists.
- Stop the Big Brother Database. The idea that
the database of all our calls is permissible as long as it doesn't
contain names and addresses is ludicrous. By linking the database
of phone calls with all the other government data mining operations,
the government can literally follow our every move, every contact,
and every transaction. It's "Big Brother" run amok!
- Investigate! Don’t Legislate! How can
Congress even consider passing legislation to make these illegal
programs legal, when it can't even find out what they entail? What's
needed is an immediate, full and unrestricted public investigation
into the NSA spying program, including a probe into the massive
database collecting Americans' phone calls. Congress must investigate.
This is no time for new legislation!