Bush Inc. Launches Domestic Satellite Surveillance Program
Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 11:26AM
TheSpook
From the Frontrunner The Wall Street Journal (5/16, Perez) reports, "Democratic critics of the Bush administration's new domestic satellite surveillance program are seeking to cut off funding, citing what they say are numerous unanswered questions about its impact on Americans' privacy and civil liberties." The National Applications Office, which is "part of the Homeland Security Department, is designed to provide federal, state and local officials with wider access to spy satellites for use in emergency response and other domestic-security needs." But "some lawmakers and civil liberties groups suspect that without explicit legal restrictions it could end up being used for domestic-spying activities. They also have raised concerns about whether the program's domestic use of military spy satellites may violate an 1878 law, known as the Posse Comitatus Act." Rep. Jane Harman, "in an interview, said that some of her suspicion is a result the Bush administration's previous handling of the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program, a National Security Agency eavesdropping project initially conducted without court oversight."
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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