I think the concept is a bit misunderstood. The government does not have plans to collect classified high resolution imagery over the US. While it is popular to believe that the "evil government" is out to get us all, please remember that folks in the intel community live here too, and are quite the same as most average folks. Just because they have access to the classified data does not mean they are any less worried than the rest of us of government out of control. In general, unless of a huge emergency where thousands of lives are in the balance (like Katrina) the folks who control the imagery birds do not even open the shutter of the USA. Those are the rules and it literally takes authorization from the highest levels of government to do otherwise.
What the policy is really trying to do is make sure that the huge holdings of unclassified imagery that the government buys from companies like Digital Globe and Ikonos every year are easily available to first responders in the case of an emergency. Again during Katrina the walls of classification kept data out of the hands of people who needed it to save lives. What they are doing here is trying to fix that so that the next time the response better
Nice, been moderated down to a 1 and labled "Troll". Way to stimulate discussion and encourage people to participate. Was it unrealistic to contribute to this thread? Suffice to say I may have a relevant perspective on the technical matters at hand. Ah well, I had hoped for better.
One of the core questions is if the FISA court and the laws that established it are themselves within the bounds of the Constitution. There is a large number of scholars who doubt it is. If that is, in the end, the ruling. All of this is immaterial.
Oh, one other thing. Congress does not have the ability to wage war. The Executive branch wages war after the Congress approves it. At least that's how its worked for several life times. The US Military reports to the President (aka the Commander in Chief).
>Last I checked Germans weren't American citizens and afforded the rights granted by the Constitution
Hate to break this to you, but in fact during World War II there was massive scale surveillance of US citizens communicating with people in Europe in order to keep tabs on what Nazis and Nazi sympathizers in this country were up to. In most case there was no warrant, no discussion with a Judge. Back then it was understood this was a war and the goal here was to win, not be scored on how well you followed the rules.
Did they (for a while) shred the constitution, you betcha. Did it snap back when the war was over? Same as it always has before and since.
A different time and a different world to be certain.
Kind of a funny little post you made in response to mine, but it is in fact a serious question that is not cut and dried by any measure. There are two questions wrapped together here.
1)Is the action we are trying to take against terrorists a war, or a law enforcement action? I don't think the American people have worked through this yet. In the passion after September 11th 2001, everyone worked from the opinion it was war. Now there is a measurable and vocal minority of the population who think it's a law enforcement matter.
2)If this is a war, does the Judiciary have any role to play in how that war is conducted? In the past the answer has been they do not, as there seems to be no role in the constitution that connects the Judicial branch to the war execution powers of the executive or the war declaration powers of the Congress.
In regards to the cheap shot replay, even the intelligence community is not entirely sure how the legal aspect of this will ultimately be resolved, but in the interim are working on a war footing.
A previous poster was correct, if this survives the first appellate challenge it's going straight to the Supremes.
Does a low level member of the Judiciary branch have the ability to override the executive branch? We have a black program, that is protected by multiple layers of secrecy. This is a construct of the executive branch. Can the Judiciary proclaim this level of secrecy null and void by decree and order classified information released?
How many billions of dollars will be now rendered worthless as all of the programs that would be revealed by complying with this order would now be rendered null and void?
Does anyone believe putting our sources and methods on display to our enemies (the El Quesos) is going to make this country any safer?
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I think the concept is a bit misunderstood. The government does not have plans to collect classified high resolution imagery over the US. While it is popular to believe that the "evil government" is out to get us all, please remember that folks in the intel community live here too, and are quite the same as most average folks. Just because they have access to the classified data does not mean they are any less worried than the rest of us of government out of control. In general, unless of a huge emergency where thousands of lives are in the balance (like Katrina) the folks who control the imagery birds do not even open the shutter of the USA. Those are the rules and it literally takes authorization from the highest levels of government to do otherwise.
What the policy is really trying to do is make sure that the huge holdings of unclassified imagery that the government buys from companies like Digital Globe and Ikonos every year are easily available to first responders in the case of an emergency. Again during Katrina the walls of classification kept data out of the hands of people who needed it to save lives. What they are doing here is trying to fix that so that the next time the response better
Nice, been moderated down to a 1 and labled "Troll". Way to stimulate discussion and encourage people to participate. Was it unrealistic to contribute to this thread? Suffice to say I may have a relevant perspective on the technical matters at hand. Ah well, I had hoped for better.
One of the core questions is if the FISA court and the laws that established it are themselves within the bounds of the Constitution. There is a large number of scholars who doubt it is. If that is, in the end, the ruling. All of this is immaterial. Oh, one other thing. Congress does not have the ability to wage war. The Executive branch wages war after the Congress approves it. At least that's how its worked for several life times. The US Military reports to the President (aka the Commander in Chief).
>Last I checked Germans weren't American citizens and afforded the rights granted by the Constitution Hate to break this to you, but in fact during World War II there was massive scale surveillance of US citizens communicating with people in Europe in order to keep tabs on what Nazis and Nazi sympathizers in this country were up to. In most case there was no warrant, no discussion with a Judge. Back then it was understood this was a war and the goal here was to win, not be scored on how well you followed the rules. Did they (for a while) shred the constitution, you betcha. Did it snap back when the war was over? Same as it always has before and since. A different time and a different world to be certain.
Kind of a funny little post you made in response to mine, but it is in fact a serious question that is not cut and dried by any measure. There are two questions wrapped together here. 1)Is the action we are trying to take against terrorists a war, or a law enforcement action? I don't think the American people have worked through this yet. In the passion after September 11th 2001, everyone worked from the opinion it was war. Now there is a measurable and vocal minority of the population who think it's a law enforcement matter. 2)If this is a war, does the Judiciary have any role to play in how that war is conducted? In the past the answer has been they do not, as there seems to be no role in the constitution that connects the Judicial branch to the war execution powers of the executive or the war declaration powers of the Congress. In regards to the cheap shot replay, even the intelligence community is not entirely sure how the legal aspect of this will ultimately be resolved, but in the interim are working on a war footing. A previous poster was correct, if this survives the first appellate challenge it's going straight to the Supremes.
Does a low level member of the Judiciary branch have the ability to override the executive branch? We have a black program, that is protected by multiple layers of secrecy. This is a construct of the executive branch. Can the Judiciary proclaim this level of secrecy null and void by decree and order classified information released?
How many billions of dollars will be now rendered worthless as all of the programs that would be revealed by complying with this order would now be rendered null and void?
Does anyone believe putting our sources and methods on display to our enemies (the El Quesos) is going to make this country any safer?