The Nexus of 2024

Get FISA Right: Proposed 2009 strategy

—

by

jon
in ,

After discussions with people in Get FISA Right as well as others (including EFF, ACLU, privacy advocates, and journalists), I’ve put together a proposal for a 2009 Strategy.  There’s also a Strategy Backgrounder, with a brief history, and a discussion of our strengths and challenges — as well as challenges for the anti-FISA forces in general.

This is the first published draft, so it’s far from final.  Feedback, suggestions, criticisms, all very welcome!  There’s a thread on the wiki here; replies to to this post are welcome too.

A quick overview:

Key goals for the year for anti-FISA forces

  • Obama living up to his campaign promises: acting against immunity, respecting privacy and the rule of law
  • Significant change in public opinion to the point where there’s strong evidence that the vast majority of Americans (60%+) oppose continuing the “national surveillance state” approach to providing the illusion of security
  • Congressional action: repeal of the PATRIOT Act and FISA reform

Summary of proposed strategy

January: lay groundwork (communications, reconnect with MyBO, Ideas for Change competiation, SaysMe ad, …)

January 20-May 1 (first 100 days): remain a group of Obama supporters and continue our conversation with him attempting to influence his initial executive actions.  Key asks:

  • stay immunity lawsuits until after the Inspectors’ General report in July
  • comply with FISA and other legislation (including the warrant requirements) and clarify that he will not assert “Article II” power
  • defer bulk surveillance of Americans, even though it has been authorized by the FAA
  • maybe also something about appointments to NSA, CIA, DHS, etc?

May/June: decide on our longer-term organization (partisan or non-partisan?  merge with an existing organization?  etc.)

July-end of year: pressure Congress and Obama; with sections 206 and 215 of the PATRIOT Act expiring at the end of the year, this is the most likely situation for legislative action

There’s much more at http://get-fisa-right.wetpaint.com/page/Strategy+and+priorities … please discuss!

Comments

6 responses to “Get FISA Right: Proposed 2009 strategy”

  1. Ben Masel Avatar
    Ben Masel

    I’m still bringing a huge “STOP GOVERNMENT SPYING” banner to the Inaugural Parade. Setting up at NW corner of 9th and Pennsylvania, in front of the J. edgar hoover Building.

    The “no signs’ rule preogated in media apples to the Mall, but not the PA Ave. sidewalks.

    Reply
  2. jon Avatar
    jon

    Thanks for mentioning that, Ben. One of our key challenges going ahead is doing more in the “real world” — in fact Mike Stark sees this as the single most leveraged thing we could do. Jim of Irregular Times is also planning a pro-constitution rally at the Inauguration … I added links to both of the actions in our “January” activities. Much appreciated!

    Reply
  3. benintn Avatar
    benintn

    This is about “governing” not “campaigning”. I think the biggest needs are to connect w/ high-level agency heads (e.g., FCC, CIA, etc.) and make them aware of our continuing concerns. Obama is not the one who will make this happen. We need leverage from Congressional committees and from Cabinet-level fed agencies. The Congress-Presidential push-pull will continue with distractions on economy, healthcare, etc. – all of which are “big issues” and tend to be sexier “kitchen table” issues. (Of course, government spying on you while you’re at your kitchen table would qualify as a “kitchen table” issue…)

    Interesting that Obama still has not found a DNI, isn’t it?

    Reply
  4. Bruce Eggum Avatar
    Bruce Eggum

    As benintn says, we need to contact Obama but also other high level decision makers. I hope this group continues and evolves into a strong democratic government advocacy group. As a group we can petition, post initiatives, contact officials enmass, have more “weight” than an individual.
    New software is providing NGO’s and advocacy groups with ability to deliberate matters and make decisions for the group. We can advance as communication advances.
    I think this is just a beginning, happy to be part of it.
    Thanks, Bruce

    Reply
  5. jon Avatar
    jon

    Thanks Ben and Bruce … agreed that we’re just at the beginning. It’s incredible how quickly things are evolving; compare-and-contrast Join the Impact’s work with ours from just a few short months ago!

    In terms of broadening our contacts, I agree that this is important; I’m not convinced that it’s Get FISA RIght’s best focus over the next few months. There are other groups that are far more plugged in on “the hill” than we are, and right now it’s difficult to crack into this without lobbyists who know how to work the system. I do think this’ll change over time and it makes sense for us to be at the leading edge of it … it’s really just a question of timing.

    And while the longer-term issues fundamentally are up to Congress, there’s a lot Obama can do in the short term via executive actions. Check out the EFF’s “What Obama can do on Immunity” and the Liberty and Security coalition and ACLU’s recommendations for executive actions (all linked from the strategy page).

    Reply
  6. Liminal states » Get FISA Right: quick update

    […] Liminal states Jon’s blog, title subject to change « Get FISA Right: Proposed 2009 strategy […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *