Government Surveillance

Comprehensive examinations of the activities of US intelligence and law enforcement agencies by congressional committees in the 1970s led to significant reforms designed to ensure that investigations conducted by those agencies were respectful of the Constitutional rights of Americans. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the intelligence and security bureaucracy, in concert with the Bush Administration, has capitalized on the current climate and has pressed for the elimination of many of those safeguards. Sweeping anti-terrorism legislation, the USA Patriot Act, enacted in October, 2001, contained many new powers, some completely unconnected to terrorism. Most notably, the Congress enacted amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which pervert the original intent of the legislation. In addition to this congressional action, the Department of Justice has instituted policies that authorize the monitoring of communications between attorneys and their clients and severely weaken the regulations governing investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Click on the links below to learn more about the government's expanded surveillance powers.
FBI guidelines for investigations
Monitoring of attorney-client conversations
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
Total Information Awareness (TIA)



"Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi" Cherokee - "May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you."