A few bits and bobs from over the weekend:
Over at Jack Balkan's place, guest bloggers David Kris (Associate Deputy Attorney General in charge of national security issues from 2000 to 2003) has been digging into the weeds of the FISA reform legislation. Part I was a backgrounder on the history of FISA, and Part II an examination of what we know about the Bush administration's various attempts to modernize electronic surveillance. Marty Lederman then followed up with a post on The Key Questions About the New FISA Bill, all of which arise from one very troubling fact:
The most troubling thing of all about the new statute is probably that virtually no one outside the executive branch has the slightest idea what it authorizes, or how, exactly it will work in practice. Folks such as David and I can provide our best guesses, but this opaque legislative process shares nothing in common with the extensive, transparent debate that occurred during the three years that FISA was under consideration.
If all that's not enough for you, or if you are looking for some reading that is significantly less weedy, go read Kevin Drum.
