Redstate

By rbdwiggins Posted in National Security — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

“We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress’ failure to act.” - McConnell/Mukasey

It’s unconscionable, but not unexpected, that the Democratic leaders in the House have chosen to appease their special interest groups by allowing the Protect America Act to expire, even though the Senate passed S. 2248 with wide bipartisan support.

The standard response by the Democrats has been that “no intelligence would be lost since the program could continue for a year.”

However, in the real world, that simply is not the case. Congress’ inaction has placed the national security of the Nation at greater risk.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell have written a letter to the Chairman and ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in response to inaccurate claims made by Chairman Reyes and in light of recent developments regarding some cooperating partners since the expiration of the Act.

From the McConnell/Mukasey letter:

Intelligence Collection

Our experience since Congress allowed the Protect America Act to expire without passing the bipartisan Senate bill demonstrates why the Nation is now more vulnerable to terrorist attack and other foreign threats. In our letter to Senator Reid on February 5, 2008, we explained that: “the expiration of the authorities in the Protect America Act would plunge critical intelligence programs into a state of uncertainty which would cause us to delay the gathering of, or simply miss, critical foreign intelligence information.” That is exactly what has happened since the Protect America Act expired six days ago without enactment of the bipartisan Senate bill. We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress’ failure to act. Because of this uncertainty, some partners have reduced cooperation. In particular, they have delayed or refused compliance with our requests to initiate new surveillances of terrorist and other foreign intelligence targets under existing directives issued pursuant to the Protect America Act. Although most partners intend to cooperate for the time being, they have expressed deep misgivings about doing so in light of the uncertainty and have indicated that they may well cease to cooperate if the uncertainty persists. Nevertheless, the broader uncertainty caused by the Act’s expiration will persist unless and until the bipartisan Senate bill is passed. This uncertainty may well continue to cause us to miss information that we otherwise would be collecting.

Thus, although it is correct that we can continue to conduct certain activities authorized by the Protect America Act for a period of one year from the time they were first authorized, the Act’s expiration has and may well continue to adversely affect such activities. Any adverse effects will result in a weakening of critical tools necessary to protect the Nation. As we explained in our letter to Senator Reid, expiration would create uncertainty concerning:

• The ability to modify certifications and procedures issued under the Protect America Act to reflect operational needs and the implementation of procedures to ensure that agencies are fully integrated protecting the Nation;

• The continuing validity of liability protection for those who assist us according to the procedures under the Protect America Act;

• The continuing validity of the judicial mechanism for compelling the assistance of private parties needed to protect our national security;

• The ability to cover intelligence gaps created by new communication paths or technologies.

Our experience in the past few days since the expiration of the Act demonstrates that these concerns are neither speculative nor theoretical: allowing the Act to expire without passing the bipartisan Senate bill has had real and negative consequences for our national security. Indeed, this has led directly to a degraded intelligence capability.

(emphasis added)

In response to the McConnell/Mukasey letter, House Republican Leader John Boehner issued the following statement:

“Democratic leaders have now been put on notice. Every day they delay passing the bipartisan Senate bill [they] our country is put at further risk. House Democrats have sat on their hands for seven months, and their efforts to block the bipartisan Senate bill now are the height of irresponsibility. The special interests of trial lawyers should not trump the security needs of the American people. The terrorist threat to our country has not gone away. We must do everything we can to protect the American people, and we should start by passing the bipartisan Senate bill as soon as the House returns Monday night.”

There’s one question that has really been bugging me since Friday:

Why has Senator McCain failed to grab hold of this critical national security issue and used it to beat the "NYTimes" and the Democrats about their collective heads?

... A golden opportunity for Senator McCain to change the debate may soon be lost as well.