Electronic surveillance

In the case of the FISA memos, transparency is national security

“National security” has been a rallying cry for politicians for centuries. Unassailable and undefined, it is the perfect conversation-stopper when debating opponents, particularly when you control the information that would prove or disprove your position. The mantra of “national security” is often used as if it has a fixed and universally understood meaning. It doesn’t, and the controversy over the “Nunes memo” from the House Intelligence Committee highlights how politics can distort semantics of security.

For weeks, the FBI and Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Intelligence Committee ranking minority member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) declared that the release of the memo would seriously undermine national security due to its highly classified content. The FBI said that the release of the memo would cause “grave” consequences to national security. When the memo was released, the public found that it was devoid of anything even remotely sensitive, let alone the disclosure of “sources and methods.”

For civil libertarians, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) controversy does raise a serious national security issue of a different kind. First, there is the underlying issue involving the use of national security powers for political purposes. While the true facts have not been fully established, there are aspects of the controversy that are troubling. The Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee hired former British spy Christopher Steele to gather dirt on Donald Trump.