The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has crippled a key part of our anti-terror program. Placing undue power in the hands of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court established under FISA exposes us to increased peril from terrorists. The Court has put new restrictions in place on the ability of US spy agencies to intercept emails and telephone calls of suspected terrorists overseas, according to a report in today's Los Angeles Times. Analysts believe our efforts to track terror suspects are impaired at a time when America is under a heightened risk of attack. The US is often a conduit for international messages between two foreign countries that merely transverse our telecommunications network. Such forbidden-to-intercept messages include the use of internet sites to support terror groups (a risk highlighted by this recent Weekly Standard article). Apparently, a single FISA judge rejected a government application for a "basket warrant"- a term that refers...(Read Full Post)