The Senate Armed Services Committee was right to reject President Bush’s proposal to create military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects with fewer legal protections.
The president sought legislative authority to conduct the war-crimes tribunals that he authorized at Guantanamo Bay, because the Supreme Court sensibly invalidated the approach in June, ruling that detainees are protected by the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the treatment of war prisoners.
We have serious concerns, however, about the Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of another piece of anti-terror legislation – a bill that would authorize the National Security Agency’s controversial warrantless wiretapping program in return for the president’s pledge to submit it for review by a secret court. The proposal amounts to an endorsement of the program and of extra-legal powers for the president.
Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who sponsored the legislation, says he just wants to put the warrantless surveillance program under judicial review and that his legislation provides the best chance for the Supreme Court to eventually rule on the president’s authority. But under the bill, an appeal to the court would be up to the discretion of the administration.
Bush promoted his proposals on the tribunals and warrantless eavesdropping during an unusual trip to Capitol Hill Thursday. His lobbying is part of a White House strategy to highlight national security and shift the public debate away from the unpopular war in Iraq before Congress adjourns to campaign for the Nov. 7 elections.
Senate Republicans, including John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with John McCain and Lindsey Graham took the lead in pressing for more legal protections for suspected terrorists who face trial before the tribunals.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Warner’s position and warned that the administration risks the safety of its own troops and alienating worldwide opinion by permitting harsh treatment of detainees.
Both pieces of legislation have a ways to go, and we urge lawmakers not to cave in to election-year pressures on such critical issues. The president’s claim that he has the right to authorize the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance without warrants flies in the face of the 1978 Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act requiring court approval for eavesdropping of domestic communications. Bush says the law is dangerously cumbersome.
Oddly, the Judiciary Committee also approved a plan sponsored by Specter and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would streamline the warrant process but affirms that the FISA court is the exclusive authority for approving such requests. That’s a more reasonable approach by far.
We’re not altogether certain that the proposals would cancel each other, as some lawmakers believe. The issue must yet be resolved. Congress should preserve the FISA law. It safeguards Americans’ privacy rights and yet gives the administration the surveillance tools it needs to protect the country.
