Thank you for contacting me in regards to President Bush’s authorization of a National Security Agency (NSA) program to conduct domestic wiretaps without judicial oversight. I appreciate hearing from you on this critical issue.
I share your concerns about the legality of President Bush’s authorization of domestic surveillance. As you may know, President Bush authorized the NSA to conduct domestic wiretaps on U.S. citizens shortly after September 11, 2001. Under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), surveillance requires a warrant from a special FISA court or the authorization of the Attorney General which must then be reported to the court within 72 hours. It appears that the President authorized the NSA to conduct domestic surveillance without going through those critical checks. Like you, I am very concerned about these revelations, and am doing everything I can to make sure this is fully investigated.1
I have joined my colleagues in sending several letters citing our concerns and requesting investigations and actions to be taken to bring this program tolight. These include a letter to the Inspectors General of the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, as well as the Government Accountability Office (GAO), calling for them to contuct immediate investigations. My colleagues and I also sent a letter to the leadership of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence calling for immediate investigations.2
I also joinced Congressman John Conyers (D-Mi) in sending a letter to President Bush expressing our concern about the apparent illegality of this program and urging the President to propose to Congress any legislative changes that may be needed so that Congress can excersise its Constitutiona authority to oversee the Executive Branch’s actions. Specifically, the letter requests that the President submit legislative changes to the Congress and disclose to Congress information about the program such as how many people have been monitored under this authority and for what reasons.3
I am also a co-sponsor of H.Res. 643 introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-Mi). This resolution of inquiry directs the Attorney General to submit to the House of Representatives all documents relating to the NSA’s warrantless electronic surveillance of telephone conversations and electronic communications of U.S. persons. This important measure would allow the House to scrutinize the Attorney General’s legal advice and justification for the wiretapping program.
Due to questions of legality surrounding the authorization of the NSA program, many have raised the question of whether or not the President has committed an impeachable offense. Certainly, impeachment cannot be ruled out as a possibility should it become clear that the President or other members of the Adminmistration have committed impeachable offenses.4 However,5 before considering such an option, much more would have to be known about the President’s authorization of the NSA program.6 Impeachment is a very serious step to take,7 and I strongly believe that it is something that should only be undertaken in a deliberate and thoughtful manner.8 That is why we must have robust congressional oversight and investigations as soon as possible.9 At this time, I am not yet ready to prejudge the outcome of any investigation by suggesting impeachment must be a component in the proceedings. There is still much to be learned about how this program has been used.10
As you know, impeachment involves the legislative branch of our government bringing accusations against officials such as cabinet members, judges and the President. The power to impeach resides solely with the House of Representatives; the power to try an impeachment case resides solely with the Senate. The Chief Justice of the United States presides over the inquiry in case of impeachment of the President. Impeachable acts cited in the Constitution are “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
One of the most difficult questions raised by this Constitutional provision is: What are high crimes and misdemeanors? The conclusion reached by most scholars11 is that clear criminal law violations represent impeachable offenses, whereas misconduct that is not necessarily criminal but undermines the integrity of the office (such as disregard of constitutional responsibilities) may rise to the level of an impeachable offense.12 Partly because of this, impeachment has taken place infrequently. By making impeachment difficult, the Constitution guards against the intrusion of the legislature into the business of the judiciary and executive brances. It also ensures that impeachmenmt remains primarily a legal, or judicial, procedure, rather than a political process.
I hope that I have sufficiently explained my position on these important issues.13 Once again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please be assured that i’ll keep pushing for thorough investigations so that Congress can exercise its oversight on this serious matter. If you have any further questions, comments, or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me again.
Sincerely,
Adam Smith
Member of Congress
Translation:
- i wish you people would stop bothering me and go away.
- i’m tired from all this letter-writing… let me sit and catch my breath for a minute…
- he might have learned something that i can use to be able to stay in office, so i don’t want to discount anything without “investigating” further.
- let me see… president getting a blow job, that’s an impeachable offense. president lying, deliberately misleading, flagrantly violating national and international law, and admitting it… we’ll have to think about that.
- nope… not impeachable offense… sorry.
- see note #3.
- and i have a 2:00 tee time…
- so we’ll think about it and we’ll let you know what we come up with… eventually… if we feel like it.
- more investigations… you would think that bush’s admitting that he broke the law would be enough, but no… there have to be more investigations…
- see note #3.
- any statistic that starts out with “‘most’ something” cannot be proven.
- president getting a blowjob, impeachable offense. president lying, intentionally misleading, flagrantly violating national and international law and admitting it, not impeachable offense.
- i might just be able to make that 2:00 tee off…
and this is a democrat, supposedly the “opposition” party in congress at this time… my solution? depopulate the country. it’s a lost cause. the administration has been corrupt for so long that it’s what people expect now. they don’t see that the foundations upon which this country was built are being taken away, piece by piece. if you don’t leave now, tomorrow may be too late.