Posted originally on the CTH on January 13, 2025 | Sundance
As the Senate begins the confirmation process….. A POINT:
“If I understand this correctly, the Senate Intel Committee will only approve Trump’s nominee for ODNI if she agrees to support an un-Constitutional provision that permits the government that none of us trust to illegally surveille American citizens without a warrant…but a provision that also makes an exception for members of Congress or their staff, who presumably value their privacy and don’t want to be illegally surveilled.
Meanwhile, President Biden is preparing to issue a blanket pardon of all the bad actors who illegally surveilled, wiretapped, sued, imprisoned and tried to assassinate his political enemies, so that no one can legally surveille, wiretap, sue or imprison them…and they get off scott-free.
Do I have that right?” ~LionTigerBear
Yes, you have that encapsulation correct. Additionally, the discussion of Joe Biden pardons -both metered and predicted- outlines the ideological mindset behind those who believe they rule over us.
If you pull back from the granular debate and think about it, none of the FISA justifications align with reality.
The FISA system is a designated secret court system that is said to only pertain to “foreign nationals.”
Ok, so if we accept the premise. Foreign nationals do not have U.S. constitutional protection. So why does the surveillance and intercept of them require secret U.S. courts?
In reality, the Secret Courts are needed because it’s not foreign nationals that need to be navigated in the surveillance system; it’s the American citizenry engagement within that surveillance that requires a different legal approach.
Why should an American citizen suddenly have their constitutional protections switched from U.S. Federal Court to U.S. Federal FISA courts (secret), simply because their contact -perhaps inadvertent- skims up against a foreign national?
The constitutional protection (4th amendment) should not be arbitrary, depending on your contact. A regular federal court judge can decide on the issue of a Title-1 warrant, that can be filed under seal if the exploration of the contact is a genuine concern.
There is no need for a secret court for either foreign nationals or U.S citizens. The former do not have constitutional protection, and the latter should not lose it under arbitrary determinations of U.S govt officials.
That’s the entire predicate that underpins the 4th amendment.
All of that said…. I’ll tell you why this issue is so important, and it has to do with the future, not the past.
The justification for the FISA-702 warrantless searching of American metadata, is a cornerstone for the enlargement of a surveillance state. The flawed precept behind 702 specifically, is the gateway needed to expand the system.
Real ID, Digital ID, AI used in facial recognition systems, and the larger issue of track and trace capability of U.S. citizen data (connecting your physical identity to a digital fingerprint), requires some legal justification to create a surveillance network DESPITE the 4th amendment.
FISA-702 is the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent of privacy.
IF we were to abolish FISA-702, which we should, then what legal justification would exist to continue unsecuring the American people from “their private papers and effects.”
The build out of the surveillance state becomes more legally tenuous, perhaps impossible, if privacy protections of the 4th amendment are firm.
Finding a way to surveil Americans, while working around the constitutional protection in place to stop it, is why the FISA-702 issue has become more important for those who are building the surveillance system under the guise of national security.
Challenge the legal justification for FISA-702, and you throw a massive wrench in the machinery of a growing surveillance state.
If you are secure in your papers and effects, you cannot be forced to “show your papers.”
Right now, the monitoring system designed is being done so they can get the answers to your identity, without having to ask you to show your papers, which is unconstitutional.
You drive through the metaphorical checkpoint, because the system automatically recognizes your identity. This is said to be a legal workaround.
However, what happens at the checkpoint (bank, atm machine, employment verification, port of entry or even voting booth) when government identifies you (for whatever arbitrary reason they construct) as a “politically exposed person.”
Don’t think congress is stupid about this, they know exactly what is going on. They understand just how dangerous this is; that’s why in the last FISA-702 reauthorization, congress literally wrote into the renewal that federal representatives cannot be subject to the FISA-702 rules.
All members of congress must be notified in advance, if their private metadata is going to be reviewed by the FBI, DOJ or any entity with access to the NSA full spectrum database library. They exempted themselves and secured their 4th amendment protections exclusively for themselves.
That’s the “change” in the law they all agreed to during the debate of the renewal. However, We The People are not granted this same notification or protection from weaponized access.
Expanding the point. In essence Congress made themselves “grey walkers.” Individuals that can go through the checkpoints with a database return result that permits them unimpeded travel. A special designation.
Now, do you see how a surveillance state creates a tiered hierarchy of disparate power and constitutional protection.
If AI converges with this total identity state, which it will, then the automation will have designations for people of special privilege.
It’s brutally easy to see how this system would be weaponized. My goal is to awaken people to it.
This is my hill!
Peter Thiel is the man building the tool (AI surveillance weapon) for the IC to deploy against American Citizens. Thiel writes an op-ed saying the privacy protections of Americans are important because the govt to whom he is giving the weapon is demonstrably weaponized and corrupt.
Reconcile this!
[SEE HERE]
[…] “Darker questions still emerge in these dusky final weeks of our interregnum. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recently suggested on Joe Rogan’s podcast that the Biden administration debanked crypto entrepreneurs. How closely does our financial system resemble a social credit system? Were an IRS contractor’s illegal leaks of Trump’s tax records anomalous, or should Americans assume their right to financial privacy hinges on their politics? And can one speak of a right to privacy at all when Congress conserves Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, under which the FBI conducts tens of thousands of warrantless searches of Americans’ communications?”
Centinel2012 