Pentagon wants new spying powers in US

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Thu, 13 Oct 2005 18:29:16 EDT

Pentagon wants new spying powers in US

 

 

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1011/dailyUpdate.html

 

Pentagon wants new spying powers in US

Pentagon says it won't spy on 'innocent' Americans,

but critics say past record shows this is false.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

 

Claiming it needs greater latitude for the war on

terror, the US Senate Intelligence Committee has

approved a request from the Pentagon for the right to

" covertly " gather intelligence on US citizens in order

to determine whether they can recruit them as

informants, without telling them that they are doing

so on behalf of the US government. Reuters reported

Friday that the Pentagon said the measure, which is

aimed at the Muslim community in the US, could help

them fight insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

" We believe there are people in the United States

who have information of value to us, " said Jim

Schmidli, deputy general counsel for operations at the

Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency. " That

information is within different ethnic communities in

this country -- recent additions to our population

from distressed areas of the world, primarily the

Middle East. "

 

But civil libertarians and leaders of the Muslim

community charge, however, that the Pentagon is using

the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to reclaim domestic

spying powers that Congress had taken away from it

after those powers were abused to spy on Americans

during the Vietnam era.

 

The intelligence committee has backed the request as

part of the 2006 intelligence spending authorization

bill. The full Senate will take up the bill later this

month. The Pentagon's request was not included in the

House version of the bill, which was passed in June.

The bill will now go to the Senate Armed Services

Committee.

 

Newsweek reported recently that this is not the first

time the Pentagon has asked for these powers.

 

The provision was included in last year’s version

of the same bill, but was knocked out after its

details were reported by Newsweek and critics charged

it could lead to “spying†on US citizens. But late

last month, with no public hearings or debate, a

similar amendment was put back into the same

authorization bill†" an annual measure governing US

intelligence agencies†" at the request of the Pentagon.

A copy of the 104-page committee bill, which has yet

to be voted on by the full Senate, did not become

public until last week.

 

Newsweek also reported that the committee included two

other controversial amendments in the spending bill:

one that would allow intelligence agencies greater

access to databases on US citizens, and one that would

grant the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency the

right not to disclose " operational files " under the

Freedom of Information Act.

 

The Los Angeles Times reports that supporters of the

bill say it gives Pentagon intelligence officers the

same authority that the CIA has to approach Americans

abroad. The CIA cannot spy on US citizens, but its

agents " routinely approach American business

executives and overseas travelers to provide

information on foreign targets. "

 

The Washington Post reported Saturday that the

Pentagon defended its request for the new powers last

week, saying that as the Pentagon expands its role in

counterterrorism, it needs more flexibility.

 

" This is not about spying on Americans, " [DIA

general counsel George Peirce] said in an interview in

which he defended legislative language approved last

week by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

... " We are not asking for the moon, " Peirce said. " We

only want to assess their suitability as a source,

person to person " and at the same time " protect the ID

and safety of our officers. " The CIA and the FBI

already have such authority, he added, and the

[Defense Intelligence Agency] needs it " to develop

critical leads " because " there is more than enough

work for all of us to do. "

 

In a separate article, the Post reports that the idea

has not been well received in the US Muslim community,

or by other critics of the new power.

 

" This has a back-alley, dead-of-night feel to it

that I don't think would be received well by the

Muslim community, " said Ibrahim Cooper, spokesman for

the Council on American Islamic Relations.

 

Lisa Graves of the American Civil Liberties Union

scoffed at a defense official's assertion that the

proposed change would not allow for carte blanche

Pentagon spying inside the United States. " That's some

spin, " Graves said. " The change would allow them to

gather information on Americans surreptitiously. If it

walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a

duck. "

 

In late September, The New York Times reported that

Republican members of Congress were expressing

concerns that the Pentagon " may be carrying out new

intelligence activities through programs intended to

escape oversight from Congress and the new director of

national intelligence, " John D. Negroponte.

 

“We see indications that the [Pentagon] is trying to

create parallel functions to what is going on in

intelligence, but is calling it something else,†Rep.

Peter Hoekstra ® of Michigan and chairman of the

House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview.

 

Mr. Hoekstra said he believed the activities were

designed to " obscure " the Pentagon's intelligence

activities in order to keep them out of Mr.

Negroponte's jurisdiction.

 

" If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the

guise of fighting a foreign enemy. " -- James Madison