AG Mukasey Backs Telecom Immunity in Editorial
In an editorial published today in the Los Angeles Times, Attorney General Michael Mukasey backs liability protection for telecommunications companies that cooperated in a terrorism wiretap program.
Mukasey notes pending legislation to extend the government’s surveillance program and promotes a version passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which provides immunity for telecoms that cooperated with the government.
The legislation would also ensure that individual court orders are not needed for surveillance of overseas targets, Mukasey wrote. Congress is addressing the issue after a secret ruling by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court striking down parts of the government’s warrantless wiretapping program. Some reports said the ruling limited “basket warrants” that sought surveillance of multiple overseas targets whose communications are routed through the United States.
Mukasey says it would be unfair to force cooperating companies to “face the possibility of massive judgments and litigation costs.”
“Moreover, in the future we will need the full-hearted help of private companies in our intelligence activities; we cannot expect such cooperation to be forthcoming if we do not support companies that have helped us in the past,” he writes.
Companies including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are among telecoms that have been named in lawsuits contending their participation in the warrantless wiretap program violated customers’ privacy rights.
