jct74
10-19-2013, 11:00 AM
How the NSA Scandal Is Roiling the Heritage Foundation
Posted By Shane Harris
Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - 4:52 PM
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/files/168161006_0.jpg
Ever since ex-senator and Tea Party kingmaker Jim DeMint took over the Heritage Foundation earlier this year, mainstream Republicans have been fretting that he'd turn the prominent conservative think tank into a political proxy for the most extreme elements of the GOP. The debt-deniers and defund-Obamacare die-hards who propelled the government into a shutdown have found a political, if not quite intellectual center of gravity at Heritage. Now, hawkish Republicans who have long embraced strong national security authorities have reason to believe that Heritage is mounting an opposition on that front, too.
Recently, Heritage refused to publish two papers about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs written by a prominent conservative attorney. Why? Because he concluded that the programs were legal and constitutional, according to sources familiar with the matter. It was a surprising move for a think tank that has supported extension of the Patriot Act -- which authorizes some of NSA's activities -- and has long been associated with right-of-center positions on national security and foreign policy.
But the paper's conclusions did not sit well with DeMint, the sources said, who worried about offending or alienating more libertarian lawmakers such Sen. Rand Paul, a DeMint ally and leading critic of NSA's collection of Americans' phone records, as well as Tea Partiers, who according to a recent poll think that government counterterrorism policies have gone "too far" in restricting civil liberties. It's those groups that brought DeMint his greatest influence as a lawmaker and made him a national political heavyweight.
It was not clear that DeMint personally ordered the papers be spiked, but sources who would not speak on the record strongly implied that it was his call.
...
For some Republicans who describe themselves as closer to the party's center, or to its traditional roots in strong executive branch security authorities, Heritage's decision not to publish Bradbury's NSA defense was just another example of the hard-right turn the group has taken since DeMint became its president.
...
A former intelligence official who recently met with members of the Heritage staff about national security issues says he came away feeling that "they were looking for a hard right agenda. Anything that the administration did was wrong. And they had that right wing paranoia with regards to intelligence. What the NSA was doing and how they were doing it."
...
Another prominent conservative, who spoke anonymously, described the evolution at Heritage more bluntly: "The lunatics have taken over the asylum."
to read rest of article and bypass subscription firewall:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC0QqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthecable.foreignpolicy.com%2Fpost s%2F2013%2F10%2F16%2Fnow_the_nsa_scandal_is_roilin g_the_heritage_foundation&ei=9LZiUvb7L4XOyAHnpYHQDA&usg=AFQjCNFmtm2ix2Qe_qqb0MPYPYD61r2UQQ&bvm=bv.54934254,d.aWc
direct link:
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/16/now_the_nsa_scandal_is_roiling_the_heritage_founda tion
Posted By Shane Harris
Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - 4:52 PM
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/files/168161006_0.jpg
Ever since ex-senator and Tea Party kingmaker Jim DeMint took over the Heritage Foundation earlier this year, mainstream Republicans have been fretting that he'd turn the prominent conservative think tank into a political proxy for the most extreme elements of the GOP. The debt-deniers and defund-Obamacare die-hards who propelled the government into a shutdown have found a political, if not quite intellectual center of gravity at Heritage. Now, hawkish Republicans who have long embraced strong national security authorities have reason to believe that Heritage is mounting an opposition on that front, too.
Recently, Heritage refused to publish two papers about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs written by a prominent conservative attorney. Why? Because he concluded that the programs were legal and constitutional, according to sources familiar with the matter. It was a surprising move for a think tank that has supported extension of the Patriot Act -- which authorizes some of NSA's activities -- and has long been associated with right-of-center positions on national security and foreign policy.
But the paper's conclusions did not sit well with DeMint, the sources said, who worried about offending or alienating more libertarian lawmakers such Sen. Rand Paul, a DeMint ally and leading critic of NSA's collection of Americans' phone records, as well as Tea Partiers, who according to a recent poll think that government counterterrorism policies have gone "too far" in restricting civil liberties. It's those groups that brought DeMint his greatest influence as a lawmaker and made him a national political heavyweight.
It was not clear that DeMint personally ordered the papers be spiked, but sources who would not speak on the record strongly implied that it was his call.
...
For some Republicans who describe themselves as closer to the party's center, or to its traditional roots in strong executive branch security authorities, Heritage's decision not to publish Bradbury's NSA defense was just another example of the hard-right turn the group has taken since DeMint became its president.
...
A former intelligence official who recently met with members of the Heritage staff about national security issues says he came away feeling that "they were looking for a hard right agenda. Anything that the administration did was wrong. And they had that right wing paranoia with regards to intelligence. What the NSA was doing and how they were doing it."
...
Another prominent conservative, who spoke anonymously, described the evolution at Heritage more bluntly: "The lunatics have taken over the asylum."
to read rest of article and bypass subscription firewall:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC0QqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthecable.foreignpolicy.com%2Fpost s%2F2013%2F10%2F16%2Fnow_the_nsa_scandal_is_roilin g_the_heritage_foundation&ei=9LZiUvb7L4XOyAHnpYHQDA&usg=AFQjCNFmtm2ix2Qe_qqb0MPYPYD61r2UQQ&bvm=bv.54934254,d.aWc
direct link:
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/16/now_the_nsa_scandal_is_roiling_the_heritage_founda tion