House of Reps. Passes Act To Limit TIA Powers

WigginX writes "As part of the 2004 Defense Appropriations Act, approved yesterday by the House of Representatives, no government agency may implement any part of Terrorism Information Awareness (formerly Total Information Awareness) without authorization from Congress. The Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy has mirrored the text of the provision."

Comments

shouldn't congress be the lawmakers?

[cheezus]

Post 9/11* showed me something I hadn't realized before: the power of the executive branch. I never really knew that the administation could do whatever they wanted unless congress actively stopped them from doing it.

* why is it called 9/11 (September 11th or the even more annoying "nine-eleven") instead of WTC, or 2001 hijackings, or something else. We don't call Pearl Harbor 12/7. Sorry for the rant, just becoming a pet peeve of mine.

Good? Bad? Just neutral?

[captainktainer]

It's a nice sentiment... but honestly, I don't think it'll do much good. Congress has a bad habit of tacking on things in amendments without people caring about it. After the furor dies down, it'll be quietly authorized and all this effort will have been for nothing.

I'd also like to point out that the White House may well decide to authorize it anyway using an executive order, since this administration agrees with Gephardt on the issue of executive supremacy. Because the CIA, NSA, and FBI are executive agencies, the White House may be able to authorize the project anyway under a different name and tell Congres to go shove itself. Constitutionally shaky, yes, but very possible in today's civil liberties-impaired legal system.

That being said, I grant conditional respect to many House Republicans and Democrats alike for speaking out against the TIA. Even if this provision is merely a postponement of the inevitable, I am grateful for every moment of precious liberty.

Does this really mean anything?

[GuyMannDude]

While it's tempting to jump for joy, I'm not sure this is really anything meaningful. Remember that TIA ia a DARPA program, meaning that it's technology that is still very much in its infancy. TIA probably wouldn't be able to be rolled out for several years yet just because it hasn't been developed, yet alone tested, yet. True, whenever it finally IS ready for action they'll need to get congressional approval but who knows what the world will be like then? Hell, maybe this action will be repealed between now and then!

In short, I'm not sure this is much to celebrate. It seems like an attempt on the part of congress to reassure the public without actually putting any meaningful constraints on DARPA or the TIA program.

GMD