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Issue Trackers trace the positions of candidates from the 2008 presidential campaign on major issues related to foreign policy.
July 11, 2008
The news that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without a warrant after the 9/11 terror attacks aroused concerns among civil libertarians. Bush stressed the program was limited (CNN) and “designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America,” but critics argue the measures were unconstitutional and a violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) even moved to censure (PDF) the President over the wiretapping program, though few of his fellow legislators and none of the current presidential candidates joined in that effort. The Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2007 has mounted an investigation (CSMonitor) into the administration’s wiretapping policy.
In August of 2006, a federal judge ruled the surveillance program was unconstitutional (WashPost). Then, in May 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Intelligence Authorization Act, which included an amendment to reaffirm that FISA will continue to be the only legitimate means (CQ) of domestic surveillance.
Both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates tend to support this approach to domestic intelligence, although Democrats have been more outspoken in opposing the Bush administration’s post-9/11 methods. A Senate version of the measure is now pending.
Sen. Obama’s response to the NSA spying controversy was mixed. On one hand, he opposed the nomination of former NSA chief Michael Hayden to the position of CIA director because of his role in the warrantless wiretapping program and said that he disapproved of Bush’s avoidance of FISA oversight in the NSA eavesdropping efforts. On the other hand, Obama did not join in Sen. Feingold’s efforts to censure Bush over the warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens.
Obama long opposed retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated in warrantless wiretapping of Americans. "No one should get a free pass to violate the basic civil liberties of the American people," he said in January 2008. Still, in June 2008, Obama voted in favor of legislation (WashPost) that would provide those telecommunications companies with legal immunity. "Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay," Obama said, explaining his support for the bill. Still, Obama pledged to "carefully monitor the program" as president.
Obama has said he will make the Director of National Intelligence into a position with a fixed term limit " to foster consistency and integrity." (WashPost)
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Sen. Biden (D-DE), who was in the Senate at the passage of FISA in 1978, spoke out against Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, which he called “unconstitutional” and an “illegal expansion of presidential power” in a January 2006 Miami Herald op-ed. But like many of his fellow candidates who have spoken out on this issue, Biden’s objections to the program appear to lie more in Bush’s circumvention of the courts than in the eavesdropping on U.S. citizens. “There is nothing the president needed to do to protect Americans that could not have been done through FISA,” said Biden, citing provisions in the act for emergency seventy-two-hour warrantless wiretapping, and even for fifteen-day surveillance without a warrant in case of a war declaration.
Biden voted to confirm Michael Hayden as CIA director, despite Hayden’s role in administering the NSA wiretapping program.
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Sen. Clinton (D-NY) criticized NSA surveillance of American citizens, saying the Bush administration should have gone through FISA provisions if they wanted to eavesdrop on domestic communications. Clinton voted against Michael Hayden’s confirmation as CIA director.
Clinton has spoken against granting blanket retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies involved in domestic spying, saying it "undermines accountability." She opposed the FISA Amendments Act of 2007, but was not present to vote against the bill in February 2008.
Editor's Note: Sen. Clinton withdrew her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on June 7, 2008.
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Sen. Dodd (D-CT) spoke out against warrantless wiretapping. He has said that through the NSA’s eavesdropping measures, the government was “overstepping its boundaries and lawlessly infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens.” Dodd voted against the confirmation of Hayden as CIA director.
Editor's Note: Sen. Dodd withdrew his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on January 3, 2008.
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Though critical of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, Edwards proposed legislation in 2003 to create a “Homeland Intelligence Agency.” The bill, which became known as the Foreign Intelligence Collection Improvement Act of 2003, was never voted on. Whether Edwards still would support the establishment of a domestic intelligence agency is unknown.
Edwards said in a May 2007 speech at the Council on Foreign Relations that the Bush administration has used the war on terror to justify “illegal spying on the American people.” A campaign policy paper on domestic defense says, “As president, Edwards will fix the Patriot Act” and “respect the FISA court process that requires quick and classified review by a special court of search warrants issued under the National Security Act.”
Editor's note: Edwards dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination on January 30, 2008.
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Rep. Kucinich (D-OH) has been a vocal critic of the NSA’s domestic surveillance. In May 2006, Kucinich sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales calling for an investigation into the NSA’s “illegal coercion” (PDF) of phone companies into cooperating with its wiretapping program.
He also fought against the confirmation of Hayden as CIA director, primarily because of Hayden’s supervision of domestic wiretapping.
Kucinich opposed the Intelligence Authorization of Act for 2007 because it would allow intelligence agencies to arrest U.S. citizens. He voted against the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act of 2006, which would have granted legal status to Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. That act passed in the House (BaltSun) in September 2006, but never became law.
Editor's Note: Rep. Kucinich withdrew his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on January 25, 2008.
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Richardson stressed the importance of due process in cases of domestic wiretapping. “I believe that the privacy and civil rights of Americans is one of our fundamental rights. And my only point here is, if there is going to be eavesdropping, if there is going to be wiretapping of American citizens, there should be a due process,” said Richardson in a 2006 CNN interview.
The New Mexico governor did not express support for Feingold’s censure efforts.
Editor's Note: Richardson withdrew his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on January 10, 2008.
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McCain believes the Bush administration's warrantless wiretap program was lawful, a top adviser to his campaign said in June 2008. McCain will "do everything he can to protect Americans from such threats, including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance to collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as authorized by Article II of the Constitution," wrote Douglas Holtz-Eakin in a letter published on the National Review's website.
McCain did not attend the June 2008 vote on legislation to lift restrictions on domestic spying, but he urged the Senate to pass the legislation. In February 2008, McCain voted in favor of the FISA Amendments Act of 2007, which authorized the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program, and which provided retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated in domestic spying.
Some analysts see a shift in McCain's position from last year. Asked in a December 2007 interview with the Boston Globe whether the president has the right to conduct national security-related surveillance without a warrant, "regardless of federal statutes," McCain said the president should "obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is."
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Sen. Brownback (R-KS) expressed disapproval of Bush’s warrantless domestic wiretapping program. Brownback, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised concerns in a hearing with Attorney General Gonzales that an unchecked domestic surveillance program could lead to a loss of public support for the broader war on terrorism, saying “I think we need to provide a process that has as much security to the American public that there's no abuse in this system.”
Brownback voted to confirm former Michael Hayden as CIA director, despite Hayden’s role in administering the NSA program.
Editor's Note: Sen. Brownback withdrew his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination on October 19, 2007.
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Gilmore called for the creation of a domestic intelligence agency, separate from any existing governmental department. The former governor of Virginia made that recommendation in 2002 as the chair of the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, also known as the Gilmore Commission.
In his role on that panel, Gilmore expressed concern that domestic spying tactics in response to the terrorist threat might “change what we are as Americans.” He also said the United States should take care to “separate the intelligence collection function from the law enforcement function to avoid the impression that the U.S. is establishing a kind of ‘secret police.’” (MSNBC)
Editor's note: Gilmore withdrew his candidacy for the Republican nomination in July 2007.
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Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney as well as mayor of New York, defended Bush’s domestic spying initiatives, saying “he did it to protect our national security and to try to find out information about people that might attack us and might be preparing an attack on us, in order to secure us, in order to protect us.” In a September 2007 Foreign Affairs article, Giuliani said electronic surveillance should not be "unrealistically" limited.
Editor's note: Giuliani dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on January 31, 2008.
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Huckabee’s stance is unknown.
Editor's Note: Huckabee withdrew his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on March 4, 2008.
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Rep. Hunter (R-CA) voted in favor of the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act of 2006, which would have granted legal status to Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.
Editor's note: Hunter dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on January 19, 2008.
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Rep. Paul (R-TX), who subscribes to libertarian views, is critical of any infringements on civil liberties. In a December 2005 PBS interview, Paul said: “We all should be dedicated to protecting the privacy of all Americans, and never giving permission to a narrow group of people in the executive branch.”
Paul voted against the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act of 2006.
Editor's Note: Rep. Paul withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on June 12, 2008.
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Romney has been a proponent of domestic intelligence gathering methods and has called for increased federal funding and participation in such measures. Romney’s opinion regarding the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretaps is unknown, but he clearly does not have qualms with domestic spying in general. In 2005, Romney made headlines by advocating the wiretapping of mosques (BosGlobe) within the United States. During his time as governor, Massachusetts opened a “fusion center” for enhanced intelligence analysis within the state. Romney has argued that individual states should play a larger role in domestic intelligence gathering.
Editor's note: Romney dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on February 7, 2008.
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Rep. Tancredo (R-CO) has not said much on the issue of domestic intelligence, but he did vote in favor of the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act of 2006, which would have granted legal status to Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.
Editor's Note: Congressman Tancredo formally withdrew his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination on December 20, 2007.
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Thompson’s stance is unknown.
Editor's note: Thompson dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on August 12, 2007.
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