Bank Shot

And when we get behind closed doors
Then she lets her hair hang down
And she makes me glad that I'm a man
No one knows what goes on behind closed doors
--Behind Closed Doors, Charlie Rich

I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
--Talking in Your Sleep, The Romantics
__________

Some things are just defendu.

Disturbing news today on CIA-issued "national security letters":

"For three years, the Bush administration has drawn fire from civil liberties groups over its use of national security letters, a kind of administrative subpoena that compels private businesses such as telecommunications companies to turn over information to the government. After the 2001 USA Patriot Act loosened the guidelines, the FBI issued tens of thousands of such requests, something critics say amounts to warrantless spying on Americans who have not been charged with crimes.

"Now, newly released documents shed light on the use of the letters by the CIA. The spy agency has employed them to obtain financial information about U.S. residents and does so under extraordinary secrecy, according to the ACLU, which obtained copies of CIA letters under the Freedom of Information Act.

"The CIA's requests for financial records come with 'gag orders' on the recipients, said ACLU lawyer Melissa Goodman. In many cases, she said, the recipient is not allowed to keep a copy of the letter or even take notes about the information turned over to the CIA."

Why is the CIA, a foreign intelligence function, collecting intelligence on U.S. citizens? The ostensible reason -- counterintelligence -- has long been an FBI function, whose charter is domestic investigations.

This is an attempt to remove Fourth Amendment protections at home for U.S. citizens. There is nothing that entitles our government to issue letters that bypass the constitutional requirements for warrants.

If the government is investigating crimes, to include terrorism, then warrants are the only justifiable avenue to obtain the desired information. The FISA courts already provide a speedy avenue to obtain such warrants.

However, warrants are issued to law enforcement agencies, of which the CIA is not a member.

Not only are telecommunications companies surrendering our data and private conversations without a fight, now financial institutions are violating federal guidelines assuring the security of our financial records. This intrusion shakes the very core of capitalistic ideals. Banking records should be sacrosanct. If these vaunted privacy rights are surrendered behind our backs, what is secured to the individual anymore?

The CIA collects intelligence on foreign threats, not American citizens. Hundreds of years of American jurisprudence and law enforcement discipline have been neutralized by the Patriot Act, which is anything but. There is no government data to indicate current privacy violations counter any terrorist threat.

Since the secret letters are not court-issued, this means that gag orders are being placed upon U.S. citizens sans court jurisdiction. An FBI or CIA agent does not have any legal justification for telling a citizen what he or she may or may not say. The last time Ranger checked, agents do not possess judicial powers.

Even if a court had issued the gag order in the service of a secret letter, this would be a spurious motion. When has secrecy become the modus operandi of U.S. society and government? A viable democracy demands openness.

The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 were judged unconstitutional because they stifled opposition to and criticism of the administration. Speech is a guaranteed right. The gag orders are attempts to stifle the possibility of popular dissent.

Why have there not been any constitutional challenges to these letters violating our privacy? Oh right -- because they are secret.

The White House recently lost a federal court battle to protect the secrecy of their visitor logs. It seems that the secrecy of White House visitor logs is more important than the privacy of an individual's bank records.

There are two Americas--them, and us. Secrecy works for them, yet is meaningless for the legal protection of the average citizen. SSDD. Team Bush can't defeat terrorism, but they can beat the hell out of us.

Our financial records should have the same level of security and secrecy as George Bush's National Guard records.