Gregory D.

Lee

Read Greg's bio and previous columns here

February 22, 2008

Nancy Pelosi Helps Al Qaeda Run Out the Clock on the Bush Administration

There has never been a better example of Democrats’ lack of commitment to national security than when Congress took a 12-day recess without passing a permanent version of the Protect America Act of 2007.

This is Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s biggest leadership failure to date.

President Bush has extended the law on several occasions but refused to do so this time in order to pressure Congress to finally act on a permanent version of the law. The Senate had already included in its version of this legislation provisions that directs telecommunications companies to assist the government in its collection of foreign telephone calls and emails, and in turn, provides them retroactive protection from lawsuits. Liberal members of Congress, however, do not support these provisions primarily because their trial lawyer campaign contributors would lose their ability to sue deep-pocketed companies.

None of this would be necessary if technology had not advanced to the point where some emails and international telephone calls flows through U.S.-based telecommunications equipment. By virtue of this, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court order is required before some emails or phone calls can be monitored, even though it originated in a foreign country.

The updated law eliminates the warrant requirement the same as before technology advancements, and provides much needed civil liability protection for telephone companies that are doing the right thing by assisting the government in protecting its citizens and their customers. Without these provisions, what expectation does the government have that a large telecommunications company will continue to assist the government when there is every possibility they will be sued for doing so?

You can tell the Democrats know they’ve been caught trying to pull a fast one, because they are suddenly sensitive to being called soft on national security. If fact, their knee-jerk reaction is to blame President Bush if any intelligence is missed while they are sipping margaritas on the beach, because he refused to sign another extension of the temporary fix, the Protect America Act, which expired the day after they left town.

The Democrats are obviously trying to run the clock out on President Bush’s term and see him replaced by either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Neither one will push for any updated legislation. In case you’re wondering, on the Senate version of the bill, Obama voted against it, and Clinton didn’t even bother to show up to vote. These are clues that reveal what you can expect from either of them as the next president of the United States.

Why would House Democrats take a chance of losing vital intelligence that might prevent another major attack on America? Either they don’t take Al Qaeda threats seriously, or they are secretly rooting for the bad guys. Which one is it?

Pelosi said: "He (President Bush) knows that the underlying 'intelligence' law and the power given to him in the Protect America Act give him sufficient authority to do all of the surveillance and collecting that he needs to do in order to protect the American people."

Tell that to Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, who said this about the possible effects of not passing the Protect America Act: "More than likely we would miss the very information we need to prevent some horrendous act from taking place in the United States." Obviously, unlike the Speaker, he doesn’t have any idea what he is talking about, right? He’s just the Director of National Intelligence. At least he’ll be in Washington doing his job while members of Congress are on taxpayer-funded shopping junkets.

Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues cannot defend the indefensible. She is the main reason Congress’s approval rating is at 17 percent and will likely remain there until adult leadership takes her place.

Gregory D. Lee is a criminal justice consultant and terrorism expert. He can be reached through his website: www.gregorydlee.com.  

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