alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

June 11, 2006

Getting the Facts Right on the Spector Bill

by AltHippo @ 10:37 pm. Filed under NSA Spying

When I first saw this WaPo article, indicating that “Wild Bullet” Spector had put together a bill offering amnesty to NSA wiretap participants I ignored it. I didn’t think it got Spector’s proposal wrong, I just figured this was part of the posturing and playing possum that happens when someone is trying to negotiate a controversial bill in Washington.

The “amnesty provision” (quotes here indicate that there might not have ever been an amnesty provision) is not the lede of the article. But, it’s a controversial part. Here’s the money quote:

Another part of the Specter bill would grant blanket amnesty to anyone who authorized warrantless surveillance under presidential authority, a provision that seems to ensure that no one would be held criminally liable if the current program is found illegal under present law.

Clearly, this doesn’t square with what Spector said today on CNN (Crooks and Liars).

Glenn Greenwald argues that the “amnesty” part of the Pincus article is just plain wrong, there is no supporting text in Spector’s bill. He also points out that at the time when he posted (which was after the Pincus article appeared) there was no reliable text that described Spector’s bill. This suggests to me that Pincus’ article was based on a leaked version, or at least one that was not generally available at the time.

Glenn Greenwald concludes that the WaPo is just not reliable, at least not as a single source. I’ll have to say I’m not there. I just can’t believe that Pincus would publish that controversial a statement without corroboration.

Yet, this is an odd story, and I can’t explain away the concerns. Was the Post was being used to float an early version of the bill to see if it would fly, or was this never part of Spector’s intent?

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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

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