Reuters/Carlo Allegri (think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
SitiWanMahani – Pegawai-pegawai dari Jabatan Kehakiman Amerika Syarikat telah mengakui bahawa mereka telah dengan sengaja tidak diberikan dokumen yang berkaitan dengan aktiviti pengawasan NSA sebagai tindak balas kepada tuntutan mahkamah dari-pada Kesatuan Kebebasan Sivil Amerika.
Menjawab satu Akta Kebebasan Maklumat (FOIA) meminta daripada ACLU, peguam Amerika Syarikat Preet Bharara dari daerah selatan New York memberitahu ACLU pada Jumaat bahawa pihak berkuasa akan memastikan “tertentu yang lain” rekod dari rahsia Pengawasan Perisikan Asing (FISA) Mahkamah diklasifikasikan.
ACLU telah memohon untuk mendapat gambaran yang lebih ke dalam program penga-wasan kerajaan pertama didedahkan oleh pemberi maklumat Edward Snowden, hanya untuk diberitahu bahawa beberapa dokumen akan “ditahan sepenuhnya” di bawah Akta Patriot.
Surat ikerajaan itu untuk ACLU telah memberi inspirasi kepada ramai membuat spe-kulasi bahawa kerajaan persekutuan telah menggunakan dan/atau meneruskan untuk mengambil program pengawasan yang belum diturunkan sebagai sebahagian daripada kebocoran Snowden ini. Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Obama telah mengakui bahawa program-program NSA - yang 53% peratus rakyat Amerika menentang, menurut satu tinjauan baru-baru Gallup - telah “tidak pernah tertakluk kepada perbahasan umum yang penuh bersemangat.”
Salah satu program yang paling perbalahan yang digunakan oleh NSA adalah koleksi sebahagian besar metadata telefon milik kepada berjuta-juta rakyat Amerika. Yang FISA mahkamah (juga dirujuk sebagai FISC) pertama yang diberi kuasa program bahawa pada tahun 2006, dan dokumen mengenai reauthorization itu adalah antara yang dide-dahkan oleh Jabatan Kehakiman.
Namun pada hari Jumaat, hari yang sama bahawa Obama menyampaikan ucapan yang dinanti-nantikan mengenai perubahan yang NSA akan menjalani, Peguam Amerika Syari-kat Preet Bharara berkata dokumen reauthorization dikeluarkan pada hari itu akan menjadi antara orang-orang yang terakhir yang akan diserahkan sebagai sebahagian daripada saman ACLU.
“Seperti yang dibincangkan melalui telefon pagi ini, kerajaan sebenarnya telah mem-proses semua Pesanan FISC baki responsif kepada permintaan FOIA dalam kes ini yang berkaitan dengan koleksi pukal, tidak kira sama ada perintah itu mengandungi apa-apa tambahan dan/atau pelarasan kepada prosedur pelaksanaan, prosedur pengurangan, dan/atau keperluan laporan yang dinyatakan dalam perintah FISC lain,” kata Bharara.
“Kerajaan tidak boleh menentukan jumlah bilangan dokumen ditahan sepenuhnya dari-pada set akhir ini dokumen responsif kerana jumlah itu sendiri diklasifikasikan,” peguam menulis, seperti yang disebutkan oleh Guardian.
ACLU peguam Alexander Abdo berkata permintaan itu ACLU hanya diminta usaha penga-wasan yang dijalankan di bawah Seksyen 215 Akta Patriot, bahagian yang paling kontro-versi undang-undang secara mendalam polarisasi. Pendedahan Jabatan Kehakiman telah setakat ini tidak termasuk butiran tentang program CIA yang mencatatkan mak-lumat mengenai pemindahan wang antarabangsa, satu lagi program koleksi besar pertama kali dilaporkan pada November oleh The New York Times dan The Wall Street Journal.
“Nampaknya kerajaan sedang menyembunyikan kewujudan program kutipan pukal lain di bawah Akta Patriot, seperti koleksi dilaporkan CIA rekod kewangan kita,” Abdo memberi-tahu Guardian. “Dalam erti kata lain, pada hari yang sama bahawa Presiden Obama meng-iktiraf keperluan untuk perdebatan kuat mengenai koleksi pukal, kerajaan nampaknya menyembunyikan bola. Kita tidak boleh ada perbahasan bahawa Presiden Obama mahu tanpa fakta bahawa agensi-agensi beliau bersembunyi.”
Govt retaining documents thought to detail
unknown NSA programs . . .
Officials from the US Justice Department have admitted that they have intentionally not provided documents related to NSA surveillance activity in response to a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the ACLU, US attorney Preet Bharara from the southern district of New York told the ACLU on Friday that authorities would keep “certain other” records from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court classified.
The ACLU was seeking to gain more insight into the government surveillance programs first revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, only to be told that some documents would be “withheld in full” under the Patriot Act.
The government's letter to the ACLU has inspired many to speculate that the federal government has used and/or is continuing to employ surveillance programs that have not been revealed as part of Snowden’s leaks. US President Obama has admitted that the NSA programs – which 53 percent of Americans are against, according to a recent Gallup poll – have “never been subject to vigorous public debate.”
One of the most contentious programs used by the NSA is the bulk collection of telephone metadata belonging to millions of Americans. The FISA court (also referred to as FISC) first authorized that program in 2006, and documents regarding its reauthorization were among those previously disclosed by the Justice Department.
Yet on Friday, the same day that Obama delivered his highly anticipated speech on the changes that the NSA would undergo, US Attorney Preet Bharara said that reauthorization documents released on that day would be among the last ones to be turned over as part of the ACLU suit.
“As discussed by telephone this morning, the government in fact has processed all of the remaining FISC Orders responsive to the FOIA request in this case that relate to bulk collection, regardless of whether the order contains any additions and/or adjustments to the implementation procedures, minimization procedures, and/or reporting requirements set out in other FISC orders,” Bharara said.
“The government cannot specify the total number of documents withheld in full from this final set of responsive documents because the number itself is classified,” the attorney wrote, as quoted by the Guardian.
ACLU attorney Alexander Abdo said the ACLU's request only sought surveillance efforts conducted under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the most controversial section of the deeply polarizing law. The Justice Department's disclosures have so far not included details about a CIA program that recorded information about international money transfers, another bulk collection program first reported in November by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
“It appears that the government is concealing the existence of other bulk collection programs under the Patriot Act, such as the CIA's reported collection of our financial records,” Abdo told the Guardian. “In other words, on the same day that President Obama recognized the need for a vigorous debate about bulk collection, the government appears to be hiding the ball. We can't have the debate that President Obama wants without the facts that his agencies are hiding.”
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