Hundreds of New Documents Reveal Expanded Military Role in Domestic Surveillance

By Kristopher Nelson on Oct 16, 2007

American Civil Liberties Union – Hundreds of New Documents Reveal Expanded Military Role in Domestic Surveillance:

New documents uncovered as a result of an American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit reveal that the Department of Defense secretly issued hundreds of national security letters (NSLs) to obtain private and sensitive records of people within the United States without court approval. A comprehensive analysis of 455 NSLs issued after 9/11 shows that the Defense Department seems to have collaborated with the FBI to circumvent the law, may have overstepped its legal authority to obtain financial and credit records, provided misleading information to Congress, and silenced NSL recipients from speaking out about the records requests, according to the ACLU.

Note that all of the documents obtained by the ACLU are at: www.aclu.org/safefree/nationalsecurityletters/32088res20071014.html

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Secret evidence is incompatible with the rule of law: While the use of secret evidence may be acceptable initially (as part of an investigation or short-term detention while more evidence is gathered), the defense needs access to this evidence. Without it, any trial or legal process is simply unfair.
Should signing a petition be a confidential act?: The Supreme Court has accepted a new case on to its docket concerning the constitutionality of a Washington State law being used as the basis to publish the names of signers of a petition to restrict gay rights.
Why can the TSA subpoena bloggers to get at their sources?: The TSA issued a directive aimed at instituting new security measures. After two bloggers published it, the TSA issued subpoenas that sought to compel them to reveal their sources. Why did the TSA think they could do this, and did they have the power to enforce their request?

About Kristopher Nelson

I'm currently a graduate student of the history of law and technology at the University of California, San Diego. I also provide law and technology consulting services. Additionally, I'm a non-practicing lawyer and former developer/sysadmin at a biotech non-profit. For more about me and my work, see krisnelson.org or my Google Profile.

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Post title: Hundreds of New Documents Reveal Expanded Military Role in Domestic Surveillance

Authored by: Kristopher Nelson

Date posted: Oct 16, 2007

Categorized as: constitution • law • news • privacy • search and seizure • wiretap

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