More of This, Please

Finally, the Democrats show some spine. It’s good to see Jane Harman and Chris Carney taking the lead on this too.

September 6, 2007

The Honorable Michael Chertoff
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528

Mr. Charles Allen
Office of Intelligence and Analysis
Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Lane

Washington, D.C. 20528

Dear Secretary Chertoff and Assistant Secretary Allen:

As you know, our Committee held a hearing today on “Turning Spy
Satellites on the Homeland.” The Department’s new National Applications
Office (NAO), charged with overseeing such a program and scheduled to
begin operations on October 1, raises very serious privacy and civil
liberties concerns.

We are so concerned that, as the Department’s authorizing Committee,
we are calling for a moratorium on the program until the many
Constitutional, legal and organizational questions it raises are
answered.

Today’s testimony made clear that there is effectively no legal
framework governing the domestic use of satellite imagery for the
various purposes envisioned by the Department. Without this legal
framework, the Department runs the risk of creating a program that –
while well-intended – could be misused and violate Americans’
Constitutional rights. The Department’s failure to include its Privacy
Officer and the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Officer before this
July, almost two years after planning for the NAO began, only heightens
our sense of concern. Privacy and civil liberties simply cannot remain
an afterthought at the Department.

We ask that you provide the Committee with the written legal
framework under which the NAO will operate, the standard operating
procedures (SOPs) for the NAO – particularly those SOPs that will be
used for requests by State, local, and tribal law enforcement, the
privacy and civil liberties safeguards that will accompany any use of
satellite imagery, and an analysis of how the program conforms with
Posse Comitatus.

The use of geospatial information from military intelligence
satellites may turn out to be a valuable tool in protecting the
homeland. But until the Committee receives those written documents and
has had a full opportunity to review them, offer comments, and help
shape appropriate procedures and protocols, we cannot and will not
support the expanded use of satellite imagery by the NAO.

We appreciate your agreement to provide these materials requested
above and look forward to working together to assure the American
people that their privacy and civil liberties will be protected.

Sincerely,

Bennie G. Thompson
Chairman

Jane Harman
Chair
Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, & Terrorism Risk Assessment

Christopher P. Carney
Chairman
Subcommittee on Management, Investigations & Oversight

Here’s a quote I like.

“You let this thing go, it may be another blank check to the executive. It may morph into things that will terrify you if you really understand the capabilities of satellites,” said Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), former ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee…

…”Since we’ve been rolled, I intend not to get rolled again,” Harman said…

More of this, please.