Surveillance Court Quietly Moving

[kpete]

Source: Washington Post

Surveillance Court Quietly Moving
Some Say Previous Location, in Justice Dept., Gave an Impression of Bias
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 2, 2009; Page A02

First, the workers encased the room in reinforced concrete. Then came the thick wood-and-metal doors that seal into the walls. Behind those walls they labored in secret for two years, building a courtroom, judge's chambers and clerk's offices. The only sign that they were done came recently, when biometric hand scanners and green "Restricted Access" placards were placed at the entrances.

What workers have finally completed -- or perhaps not; few really know, and none would say -- is the nation's most secure courtroom for its most secretive court. In coming days, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court will move from its current base at the Justice Department and settle into a new $2 million home just off a public hallway in the District's federal courthouse.

The relocation is a rare public action by a mysterious Washington institution that is judged by its ability to keep secrets while overseeing the government's efforts to gather them. Its role, generally, is to determine whether the federal government can spy on U.S. citizens or foreigners in the United States in terrorism or espionage investigations.

Created in 1978 to curtail abusive government spying, the court enjoyed a rather obscure existence until the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when authorities began to frantically intensify their spying efforts.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/01/AR2009030101730.html?hpid%3Dsec-politics&sub=AR

[Robbien]

1. They need tons of concrete to keep their spying secret?

Doesn't that give them a clue what they are doing is wrong?

[Demeter]

2. (crickets chirping)

Nope.

[jmowreader]

3. It's a Class A vault. They're all like this

If you're handling top-secret information, and the surveillance court potentially could, they need a facility like this.

[benld74]

4. We're ALL on Double Secret Probation!

[annabanana]

5. Doesn't the military already have something that can

see through concrete walls?. . No?. . . Are you sure?

[Winterblues]

6. I thought Bush* and later Obama ruled FISA was not necessary

and the Administration could not and would not be bothered with them. Why are they all of a sudden now building a new Top Secret court room? :shrug: Now I am really all puzzled up.