A small editorial about recent events.

[Perry E. Metzger]

A small editorial from your moderator. I rarely use this list to
express a strong political opinion -- you will forgive me in this
instance.

This mailing list is putatively about cryptography and cryptography
politics, though we do tend to stray quite a bit into security issues
of all sorts, and sometimes into the activities of the agency with the
biggest crypto and sigint budget in the world, the NSA.

As you may all be aware, the New York Times has reported, and the
administration has admitted, that President of the United States
apparently ordered the NSA to conduct surveillance operations against
US citizens without prior permission of the secret court known as the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (the "FISC"). This is in clear
contravention of 50 USC 1801 - 50 USC 1811, a portion of the US code
that provides for clear criminal penalties for violations. See:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50/usc_sup_01_50_10_36_20_I.html

The President claims he has the prerogative to order such
surveillance. The law unambiguously disagrees with him.

There are minor exceptions in the law, but they clearly do not apply
in this case. They cover only the 15 days after a declaration of war
by congress, a period of 72 hours prior to seeking court authorization
(which was never sought), and similar exceptions that clearly are not
germane.

There is no room for doubt or question about whether the President has
the prerogative to order surveillance without asking the FISC -- even if
the FISC is a toothless organization that never turns down requests,
it is a federal crime, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, to
conduct electronic surveillance against US citizens without court
authorization.

The FISC may be worthless at defending civil liberties, but in its
arrogant disregard for even the fig leaf of the FISC, the
administration has actually crossed the line into a crystal clear
felony. The government could have legally conducted such wiretaps
at any time, but the President chose not to do it legally.

Ours is a government of laws, not of men. That means if the President
disagrees with a law or feels that it is insufficient, he still must
obey it. Ignoring the law is illegal, even for the President. The
President may ask Congress to change the law, but meanwhile he must
follow it.

Our President has chosen to declare himself above the law, a dangerous
precedent that could do great harm to our country.  However, without
substantial effort on the part of you, and I mean you, every person
reading this, nothing much is going to happen.  The rule of law will
continue to decay in our country. Future Presidents will claim even
greater extralegal authority, and our nation will fall into
despotism. I mean that sincerely. For the sake of yourself, your
children and your children's children, you cannot allow this to stand.

Call your Senators and your Congressman.  Demand a full investigation,
both by Congress and by a special prosecutor, of the actions of the
Administration and the NSA. Say that the rule of law is all that
stands between us and barbarism. Say that we live in a democracy, not
a kingdom, and that our elected officials are not above the law. The
President is not a King. Even the President cannot participate in a
felony and get away with it. Demand that even the President must obey
the law.

Tell your friends to do the same. Tell them to tell their friends to
do the same. Then, call back next week and the week after and the week
after that until something happens. Mark it in your calendar so you
don't forget about it. Politicians have short memories, and Congress
is about to recess for Christmas, so you must not allow this to be
forgotten. Keep at them until something happens.


Perry

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