June 7: SSCI hearing on FISA and sec 702 reauth

[dc2london]

Senator Burr has called the hearing to order.

ETA those testifying today include DNI Dan Coats, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe (acting FBI director) and CIA Director Admiral Mike Rogers

[dc2london]

Burr: 702 is one of our most effective tools against terrorism. The intelligence community needs section 702 collection to successfully carry out its mission. And it is this committee's obligation to make sure that the IC has the tools and authority it needs to complete its mission here and abroad

[dc2london]

Senator Warner did not come to play. He's starting his opening remarks by stating that the witnesses have taken a constitutional oath and fulfill roles that are not intended to be political. He wants to have a little chat about POTUS obstructing justice.

[pesto]

Already into Russia, I thought it would take longer than that.

[dc2london]

Warner: if any of [the reports of Trump conversations] is true, it would be an appalling misuse of our intelligence officials.
For anyone, including POTUS, to exploit our IC for political gain, is deeply troubling.

[dc2london]

Burr and Warner are both pro-702

[dc2london]

Coats: Hopefully the public is watching
LOL

[dc2london]

Coats discussing recent terror attacks in Europe, segues to discussion of 702 effectiveness in "giving the US IC the upper hand" in thwarting attacks on our homeland and our allies

[dc2london]

Coats lists the key legal limitations of 702:
-can only be used to target foreign nationals, outside the US
-can not be used to target US citizens, anywhere, ever
-can not be used to target foreign nationals on US soil
-can not be used to target a foreign national when the ultimate aim is to collect intelligence on a US citizen

[dc2london]

Coats: In the nearly 10 years since Congress enacted the amendments to the Freedom Act (FISA), there have been NO instances of intentional violations of Sec 702.

So in other words, OBAMA DIDN'T TAP YOUR WIRES YOU BOLONEY HEAD

[crazycornball]

Boloney head isn't quite the strong insult I was hoping for dc2london

[pesto]

I like how he extended his sympathies to the communities of the attacks and said how he has been in touch with his colleagues abroad. This should really be expected but I have extremeley low standards for this stuff now.

[crazycornball]

I do get that you are watching littles, tho.

[flojo]

Loved Warner's statement.

I'm ready for the testimony. Lets wrap it up, Coats.

[dc2london]

Jun 7, 2017 8:33:03 GMT -6 crazycornball said:

Boloney head isn't quite the strong insult I was hoping for dc2london

It's going to be a long day, I'm working up to the cursing

[crazycornball]

Jun 7, 2017 8:33:48 GMT -6 dc2london said:

Jun 7, 2017 8:33:03 GMT -6 crazycornball said:

Boloney head isn't quite the strong insult I was hoping for dc2london

It's going to be a long day, I'm working up to the cursing

I'm cursing like a sailor by 6am every morning when I'm catching up on my morning twitter. 😂 No wonder I'm always fucking angry. I blame the twitter.

[dc2london]

Coats: There has never been an intentional abuse of 702. When we find a mistake or unintentional misuse, we take great steps to correct it. We want Americans to feel that their privacy is respected and protected by the IC.

[enchanted]

Personally, I think baloney head just might get his attention. It's new and different.

[crazycornball]

Jun 7, 2017 8:35:57 GMT -6 enchanted said:

Personally, I think baloney head just might get his attention. It's new and different.

fucking Baloney head?

[crazycornball]

Sorry, I'm distracting from the live blog. Carry on.

[dc2london]

Coats is discussing the recent FISC opinion (which was published with light redaction for public viewing), and an issue that arose where overcollection may have been taking place and the NSA decided to stop that particular type of collection (when the target of collection was neither the sender or recipient of communique, but was referenced or discussed in the communications). He offers this as an example of the ongoing evaluation of the program to protect Americans' privacy.

This is also important bc it would knock down another republican talking point, which is that IC surveillance of the Trump campaign wouldnt' have happened bc Russians were talking ABOUT him.

[dc2london]

Breaking news: Dan Coats doesn't know how to pronounce Herculean.

[dc2london]

Burr is asking questions now

[dc2london]

Rogers and McCabe are not aware of ANY intentional misuse of 702

[dc2london]

Jun 7, 2017 8:47:44 GMT -6 @heartbot said:

Jun 7, 2017 8:41:06 GMT -6 dc2london said:

Breaking news: Dan Coats doesn't know how to pronounce Herculean.

How'd he say it?

It took about 4 attempts before he gave up. I thought my feed was skipping. 

[dc2london]

Dir Rogers talking about reverse targeting.
If they want to target US person A, but can't get a FISC warrant, they can't then go target a random non-US person to whom US person A is talking as a means to circumvent the law and target US Person A

[dc2london]

oh boy, here comes Warner.

[dc2london]

cool. I just totally missed what Mike Rogers said bc my Internet sucks.

[dc2london]

Rogers will neither confirm nor deny the existence of a memo claiming that Trump asked top officials to downplay the Russia thing

[flojo]

Jun 7, 2017 8:56:10 GMT -6 dc2london said:

cool. I just totally missed what Mike Rogers said bc my Internet sucks.

He said that he will not answer hypothetical questions when asked if it would be atypical for a President to ask questions or bring up an FBI investigation that concerns people associated with the President's campaign or his activities.

And he will not discuss any conversations he has had with the President.

But he does say that "to the best of his recollection" he has not been directed to do anything illegal.  And has not felt pressured to do so.