BushCo’s lust for snooping on Americans gets ever-more addictive

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has circulated a draft bill that would expand the government's powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, liberalizing how that law can be used.

Here’s the details:

According to officials familiar with the draft changes to FISA, McConnell wants to:

• Give the NSA the power to monitor foreigners without seeking FISA court approval, even if the surveillance is conducted by tapping phones and e-mail accounts in the United States.

• Clarify the standards the FBI and NSA must use to get court orders for basic information about calls and e-mails - such as the number dialed, e-mail address, or time and date of the communications.

Civil liberties advocates contend the change will make it too easy for the government to access this information.

• Triple the life span of a FISA warrant for a non-U.S. citizen from 120 days to one year, allowing the government to monitor much longer without checking back in with a judge.

• Give telecommunications companies immunity from civil liability for their cooperation with Bush's terrorist surveillance program. Pending lawsuits against companies including Verizon and AT&T allege they violated privacy laws by giving phone records to the NSA for the program.

• Extend from 72 hours to one week the amount of time the government can conduct surveillance without a court order in emergencies.

Remember, this all while the government is facing a lawsuit over past alleged FISA violations related to domestic snooping.

These guys are a piece of work.