Executive order 12333, which Reagan signed into force, may be changed or thrown out soon to allow significant changes in the national intelligence community before the end of the Bush presidency.
Quote:
WASHINGTON - The national intelligence director has won White House approval to begin revising an executive order that lays out each spy agency's responsibilities and the government's protections against spying on Americans.
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The Reagan-era 1981 presidential order is woven into the culture at the 16 spy agencies and spells out their powers. It also provides fundamental guidance to protect against spying on Americans, prohibitions against human experimentation and the long-standing ban on assassination.
Some officials familiar with Intelligence Director Mike McConnell's plans, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the deliberations remain internal, said his intent is solely to update the policy to reflect changes in the intelligence community since Sept. 11, 2001, including the creation of his own office.
But other officials, who also spoke on condition they not be identified, said opening the order to changes could lead well beyond that. They said the exercise could threaten civil liberties protections approved by President Reagan following intelligence abuses in the 1970s, and that intelligence agencies will be tempted to expand their powers.
Rest of article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/.../new_spy_rules
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To me, it is just another move to eliminate hurdles. The Administration is well known for chafing at the limitations, restrictions, regulations, protections, what-have-you, that keep them from doing whatever they want, whenever they want to. The freedom of government and corporations is always held in higher regard than the freedom of individuals by this crew.
They tell us the old line that its a new world since 9/11 and how this ancient 1981 rule is so 20th Century. I guess the Constitution is so 18th Century, we ought to toss that out too. Anything that gets in the way of the powers that be.
Also, as I recall, Reagan signed the order after a couple of decades of CIA assassinations and other activity was finally prompting Congress to get involved. If the order is rescinded, then I think it puts the burden on Congress to act quickly and proscribe the appropriate law at their level to provide protections and guidelines on activities to ensure that we can go get the intelligence we need, and we can engage in correct actions to stop terror, but that we don't repeat the mistakes of the 60s and 70s which caused significant problems for America and the world.
Josh