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Terrorism

Lawmakers Reach Deal on Wiretap Law that Protects Telecoms

Posted Jun 20, 2008, 05:01 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Lawmakers have reached agreement on a new wiretap law that allows the government to obtain broad warrants to eavesdrop on foreign communications and gives telecoms immunity for aiding the government’s wiretap efforts.

News reports are calling the deal a victory for the administration.

The immunity provision insulates telecommunications companies from liability for aiding government wiretap efforts after Sept. 11 as long as they can provide substantial evidence of a written request from government officials stating the president had authorized wiretaps and determined that they were legal, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.).

Other provisions allow the government to obtain broad warrants to wiretap foreign targets whose communications pass through U.S. telecommunications networks, the New York Times reports. Court orders would be required to wiretap Americans, but in emergency cases wiretaps could be conducted for seven days without court approval.

Democrats won some concessions, including a clause that says intelligence restrictions were the exclusive means to conduct wiretaps in terrorism and espionage cases. The language is intended to prevent a president from asserting the right to bypass the law. Immediately after Sept. 11, President Bush had bypassed the special foreign intelligence court that approves foreign wiretaps in national security cases. A temporary bill passed last year allowed the government to wiretap without a warrant if the target belonged to groups such as al-Qaida that were being monitored by intelligence agencies.

The law also requires the special intelligence court that oversees foreign wiretaps to give advance approval to government eavesdropping methods and also requires review by the inspectors general of several agencies, the stories say.

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