FISA Redux

Technology Liberation Front writes The More Things Change… "I’m boning up on the history of the FBI, reading Athan Theoharis’s The FBI and American Democracy. So far, I’ve gotten from the FBI’s inception (100 years ago this month) to midcentury. The most remarkable thing about it is how familiar it all seems. As Theoharis tells the story, the FBI has, from its inception, pushed for ever broader authority to spy on Americans. During the first half of the 20th century, it pushed relentlessly for broader statutory authority. When Congress would not give it the authority it wanted, it sought authorization from senior executive branch officials for authorization to break the law. If authorization wasn’t fortcoming, the bureau would often do what it wanted anyway and not tell its nominal superiors of its activities"