The national security canard

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　The national security canard
        　　    Gallons of ink have been spilled and god knows how many pixels have been burned to report the yearlong saga of the
        　　    Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), but it can be pretty well summarised in one paragraph.
        　　    Last August, under Bush administration pressure - its typical "terrorists will eat your children if you don't do
        　　    what we say" stuff - Democrats caved and passed a series of draconian Fisa amendments – collected into the Protect
        　　    America Act - before adjourning for the summer recess. Six months later, though, when those amendments sunset,
        　　    Democrats did what they'd never done before: Under identical pressure from the White House, they refused to pass
        　　    new, longer-term draconian legislation and instead let the Protect America Act expire.
        　　    This had a number of consequences, most of them good. Fisa, though still flawed, was restored to it pre-draconian
        　　    version. Telecommunications companies that participated in the administration's warrantless wiretapping programme
        　　    were denied retroactive immunity for their crimes. And Democrats, chastened by their show of political strength, won
        　　    several run-off elections despite Republican certainty that they could use the Fisa issue to portray their opponents
        　　    as national security weaklings.
        　　    After that, as the primary season escalated and Iraq recaptured the headlines, Fisa largely faded from view. But now
        　　    it's back on the legislative agenda. A series of surveillance orders are scheduled to expire in August, and there's
        　　    reason to believe that the GOP will try to force the Democrats to pass much, much more than a simple extension of
        　　    them. "Congressional and intelligence officials are bracing for the possibility that the government might have to
        　　    revert to the old rules of terrorist surveillance, a situation that some officials predict could leave worrisome
        　　    gaps in intelligence," Eric Lichtblau reported last week in the New York Times.
        　　    Those words - "revert to the old rules" and "worrisome gaps" - are the words administration partisans use to
        　　    describe the situation to the gullible press. And, of course, they're completely inaccurate. For one, the Protect
        　　    America Act has already expired, and nothing about Fisa will change unless the Congress decides to change it. But
        　　    more importantly, if one danger is that a great number of al-Qaida operatives might be freed from surveillance, then
            
            

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        　　    the administration could simply ask legislators to renew those orders. If another danger is that foreign-based
        　　    communications will continue to require warrants when they should not, then the administration could ask Congress to
        　　    make a quick fix to the statute.
        　　    But President Bush has been very clear about such narrow provisions: he will veto them unless they are joined by
        　　    other provisions that allow the government to spy on Americans in the US and indemnify the telecom companies that,
        　　    along with the administration, broke the law. So much for the urgency, right?
        　　    Unfortunately, at least a few, unnamed Democrats haven't noticed that they all but won the political battle: "Even
        　　    some Democrats, at odds with the White House for months over the surveillance issue, said they were worried about
        　　    the summer situation," Lichtblau reported. "'Until August, we're OK,' said one senior Democratic Congressional aide
        　　    involved in the negotiations. 'After August, we're not OK.'"
        　　    Of course, the only way Democrats will be "not OK" after August is if they decide to do the White House's bidding
        　　    for fear of political consequences. Fisa worked before the Protect America Act. Fisa has worked since the Protect
        　　    America Act expired. Fisa will continue to work if the Democrats refuse to be bullied. What no longer works are
        　　    false and craven pronouncements that Democrats are selling out America's security by not supporting corrupt and
        　　    unconstitutional legislation.