Thursday, November 05, 2015

Abolish secret courts!

Reform Or Abolition?

Chelsea Manning Support Network
Chelsea releases government surveillance reform bill
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Abolish secret courts!
Chelsea pens 129 page surveillance reform bill

On Nov 3rd, former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning released a 129 pg bill to fix the US government’s surveillance programs. Her bill calls attention to the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court system initially created to oversee US intelligence gathering. Unfortunately, however, it is shrouded in secrecy, “leaving many in Congress and all of the American public in the dark,” Chelsea notes in an accompanying Guardian op-ed. Although the recently passed US Freedom Act made some strides to prevent unnecessary government spying, Chelsea maintains that, “because of the continuing secrecy of the Fisa courts, any ruling by a court of appeals was only a symbolic gesture.” “The solution: we should abolish the entire Fisa Court system..."
Chelsea Manning, Guardian OpEd
Nov 3, 2015
The US intelligence community is in a very poor position to be trusted with protecting civil liberties while engaging in intelligence work. When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail; when you’re a skilled intelligence professional, everything looks like a vital source for collection.
...What the intelligence community – including the NSA, the State Department and the military branches – will always fail to accept is that simply having more tools for the collection, analysis and timely dissemination of actionable intelligence is not the same thing as having the tools necessary to perform such functions effectively.
Chelsea wrote this draft legislature over several months this summer, all while incarcerated in military prison at Fort Leavenworth, KS.
Writing from a, “word processing computer that doesn’t save anything, I had to print it out in sections, slowly, hoping I didn’t make any typos," Chelsea explains in a blog via Medium.
Also facing delays due to 4 prison offense charges, Chelsea described the process as, “the most difficult undertaking in prison (so far)." Read more on Medium.

Sign the petition telling lawmakers to read Chelsea's bill

As digital advocacy group Fight for the Future notes, "The U.S. government's unpopular mass surveillance programs have been heavily criticized, but so far Congress has failed to meaningfully curtail them."
Chelsea's bill provides detailed solutions our lawmakers should take into consideration as they address government spying concerns.

Chelsea can continue to be a powerful voice for reform, but we need your help to make that happen. Help us support Chelsea in prison, maximize her voice in the media, continue public education, fund her legal appeals team, and build a powerful movement for presidential pardon.

> > > Please donate today! < < <


  
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