Letters

...The nuclear freeze/disarmament movement is not going to convert the pro-nuke constituency by sheltering it from evil...

...Fourth, loopholes in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act seem to exempt certain NSA practices...

...Vocational education and work-training programs in the public schools have generally failed to maximize employment opportunities and have reduced the exposure of students to academic subjects...

...I'm beginning to agree with her conclusion that we need an activist alternative to NOW...

...Thus, NSA computers can suck up anything with no judicial oversight...

...Americans can be overheard during such surveillance, and records of their conversations may be retained by spy agencies if that is deemed necessary to intelligence functions—another potentially abusive standard...

...Joel Spring Cincinnati, Ohio Deep Freeze As a long-time subscriber and supporter, I question your recent editorial on the nuclear freeze movement ("A More Effective Freeze," Comment, February issue...

...Second, the "clearly erroneous" standard, to which the article refers disparagingly, pertains only to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court's review of a document which must be filed with each application to surveil a U.S...

...For example, the Department contends that a person "seeking unclassified or public information" can be targeted "if he is doing so at the direction of a foreign power...

...Eva Leo Dubuque, Iowa Art Director Pat Flynn has done a wonderful job with your graphics...

...Business also wants the schools to turn out workers with the "right" attitudes-workers who are compliant and obedient...

...However, because of the importance of the civil liberties issues involved, care should be taken to state its provisions accurately...

...What seems to be needed is a reasoned and careful study of how your readers and others of similar interests feel about the "active versus passive" forms of social change...

...The author replies: I'm afraid Representative Boland is focusing on the trees and ignoring the forest—a dark forest where our rights can easily be lost...

...Though the NSA cannot target a "particular" citizen without court approval, it can unilaterally intercept classes of—or random—communications...

...I expect it will continue...

...Fourth, the statement that "the NSA does not need Court approval to monitor messages that leave or enter the United States" is incorrect...

...As far back as 1979, NOW members were promised a quarterly journal in which they could air such philosophical discussions...

...And the cover of the April 1984 issue made me sick to my stomach...

...Kauffman did an excellent job of analyzing the organization...

...You gently deride the freeze effort, through citizen petitions, to force the Reagan Administration to negotiate in good faith with the Russians, and question the value of the freeze call for a "mutually verifiable" end to nuclear weapons...

...Meaning, in this country, a world where most jobs will be provided by private business, and most kids will be able to choose (if they have a choice) only between these jobs and none at all...

...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness...

...The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...

...The goals of most freeze groups include consciousness-raising, so why not turn this missile monument to our advantage...

...Elaine Emling Washington, D.C...

...The Puzzle Palace, James Bam-ford argued that intelligence-sharing occurred in the 1960s and could continue to this day...

...It is positively embarrassing, given NOW's lip service to the issue of eliminating racism, that no serious consideration was given to joining Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition...

...to inculcate habits of attendance and punctuality, and I don't know what-all else...

...The "clearly erroneous" standard does not apply to the probable cause finding referred to above...

...Edward P. Boland, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence House of Representatives Washington, D.C...

...I don't know what Spring supposes the proper role of education to be, but surely one of its primary tasks is to give children whatever skills LETTERS they will need to survive in the world they graduate into...

...In any case, how would Boland distinguish between a "black bag job" and a secret physical "search of the personal property of agents of foreign powers...

...In a magazine of about fifty pages, why must readers encounter a total of six pages of illustrations—often poor illustrations...

...His "argument," stripped of rhetoric, amounts to saying no more than that business is trying to influence the schools—and if business is doing it, it must be a Bad Thing...

...What interests me more, though, is your support for such tactics as holding arms race "vigils" one Friday a month and naming October 5, 1984, as a national Day of Concern...

...If, on the other hand, he wants to argue that the influence of business on the school system—job training apart—is not only self-serving but, on balance, malign (as I personally believe), I sincerely wish him all success...

...I respond to them and feel they do The Progressive's text justice—a nice joining of two powerful forms of expression...

...Such attitudes might be beneficial for employers but they do not benefit a society that depends on an active and critical citizenry...

...Furthermore, the Government need not allege any wrongdoing to bug, say, a foreign-based political organization in this country, or a business controlled by a foreign government...

...We have enough enemies on the right, and especially in the White House...

...Kauffman's criticism of NOW's endorsement of Walter Mondale was mild in comparison to what could have been said...

...Bridget M. Whitley Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Secret Court Keenen Peck's article on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("A Court that Never Says No," April issue) contained several inaccuracies which, if allowed to stand, can lead to an unnecessary diminution of public confidence in this important statute...

...an employment agency for business...

...to make education "subservient to market conditions" (by which he apparently means training kids for jobs that exist, or are likely to, rather than those that don't and won't...

...As for a "verifiable" freeze, the point is of critical importance to our leaders and as well to our people, since it is now possible to verify adequately the nuclear weaponry industry in both the United States and the Soviet Union...

...Spring has also unearthed a school-cum-capitalist conspiracy to train kids for "entry level" jobs (which he confuses with "unskilled" jobs...

...Five years ago, The Progressive included only a couple of pages of political comic strips in a magazine of the same size...

...Not a single issue was ever published, nor is one likely to be...

...According to the Justice Department, a court order is not required by the NSA if the American targeted "is outside the United States or only information about, rather than the communications of, the United States person is sought...

...Kauffman's "NOW for Something Completely Different" (March issue...

...We must maintain a constant vigil to ensure that government institutions do not fall prey to special interests...

...The Court later concluded—properly, in my view—that its jurisdiction only extended to electronic surveillance...

...Kay Taebel Arlington, Texas Idisagree with Bert Provost's assessment of the merits of placing a Minuteman missile on public view in Harrison-ville, Missouri ("Monument to a Minuteman," Datelines, April issue...

...It is, of course, not immune from criticism...

...Somehow, I cannot see how a few dedicated peace activists holding vigils or mounting a massive campaign one day next fall builds a constituency for peace...

...Setting up this instrument of death as a "monument" is contemptible, but allowing the public to see it could certainly enhance the antinuclear cause...

...I, for one, would be most interested in learning how other people think we can best make a better world...

...The slower-paced, more continuous reaching out to friends and others by peace promoters has, in my own experience, been much more workable...

...Finally, in his book...

...These self-proclaimed experts think they possess the answers for women...

...Also, as a former state coordinator, I took offense at the reference that only a "few" control NOW—those being the state coordinators, board members, and officers...

...As to point three...

...Rather, on two occasions, the Court approved the search of the personal property of agents of foreign powers...

...Mark Lynch, counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, made the same point in Congressional testimony last year...

...You suggest these efforts will "build a broad-based, effective movement" for a total ban on armaments and war...

...I relied for my information on Mary Lawton, the Justice Department's counsel for intelligence policy...

...But he'll need to do his homework: To make this point convincingly to anyone but the already converted will require a lot more facts, and a lot clearer thinking, than his recent article provides...

...But it is still acceptable to tell women what to do...

...person and in which the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the FBI, or the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs must certify that the purpose of the surveillance is to obtain foreign intelligence information and that he or she in fact deems the information sought to be such information...

...This was news fifty years ago...

...Third, the Court has never issued an order approving "physical break-ins— black bag jobs...

...Education should also maximize one's ability to compete in the labor market and increase one's opportunity for upward mobility...

...Steve Stuebner La Grande, Oregon Fan Mail As a loyal subscriber and supporter of The Progressive over a period of many years, I think I've earned the right to voice some criticism: I abhor the illustrations...

...This set of numbers could be posted alongside the Defense Department's rosy description of the Minuteman for an objective information display...

...At present, business wants the schools to produce more engineers, scientists, and workers for unskilled and entry-level positions, so that it can lower wages or maintain existing low wages in these fields...

...If he is simply claiming that business concern with education is not disinterested, he's wasting his time writing for Progressive readers...

...to make the school "not only...

...That is a meager probable-cause standard, and the Justice Department's interpretation of it bodes ill for the Constitution...

...Section 2511 of Title 18 of the United States Code makes it a crime for anyone, including a foreign government, to engage in a nonconsensual electronic surveillance within the United States except as authorized by Title 18 or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act...

...Keenen Peck Madison, Wisconsin School's Out Professor Joel Spring has discovered that American business is seeking to influence American education ("From Study Hall to Hiring Hall," April issue...

...Further, a request by the NSA to a foreign government to acquire information that it would be illegal for NSA to acquire would be a violation of section 2.12 of Executive Order 12333, which states: "Indirect Participation: No agency of the Intelligence Community shall participate in or request any person to undertake activities forbidden by this Order...

...Robert Claiborne New York, New York The author replies: The primary purpose of public education should be to produce an educated and critical citizenry capable of protecting its political, social, and economic rights...

...The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was thoroughly examined by four Congressional committees, supported by two successive Administrations of differing political parties, and passed by an overwhelming majority of both houses of Congress...

...In a longer version of the article published in The Progressive, I have argued that employers are primarily interested in reducing wages by flooding various sectors of the labor market...

...First, to obtain a court order for electronic surveillance of an American citizen or a permanent resident alien, the Justice Department must do much more than "merely demonstrate that the target has foreign connections and that the premises to be targeted are used by the target...

...Liberals complain we are too "radical," while radicals complain we are too "conservative...

...I can assure you that with a quarter of a million members, NOW is a broad-based, grass-roots organization in which many people have input on policy decisions...

...If Spring is really claiming that schools should not educate kids for the available jobs, should not inculcate habits of "attendance and punctuality," and should not concern themselves with "market considerations" (i.e., the probable trends of business—and therefore employment—in the near future) he's certainly free to do so, but I doubt if he'll make many converts...

...First, I noted in my article that "the Court can authorize snooping on Americans if the Attorney General certifies they are engaged in clandestine activities on behalf of a foreign power that 'may involve' a violation of criminal law...

...I think you miss the point of petitions: They can educate thousands of Americans to the danger of nuclear war, regardless of the impact on politicians...

...Fifth, James Bamford's surmise, to which the article refers, as to electronic surveillance within the United States by the British government, is without foundation...

...In his second point, Boland merely expands on what I wrote about the limited role of the intelligence court: The impartial magistrate cannot challenge Executive Branch claims that desired information is, in fact, foreign intelligence...

...The NSA believes such snooping comes under court jurisdiction only when it processes "the contents of that communication into intelligible form intended for human inspection...

...we knew it long ago...

...In 1975, a dissident group of NOW members formed the Majority Caucus and succeeded in ousting a leadership accused of being unresponsive to the membership, undemocratic, and too wedded to a moderate, mainstream style of feminism...

...Patricia Todd Arlington, Virginia As a former NOW activist, I believe L.A...

...a training ground but also...

...And whatever leverage NOW could have hoped to wield in getting a woman Vice President has certainly evaporated...

...Feminists like myself, having invested personally and financially in NOW over the years, are wondering whether we need a new Majority Caucus movement within NOW or a totally new organization...

...I will always support constructive criticism, but please let's stop the trashing...

...The trashing of NOW has become a pastime for some who are not activists and not NOW members...

...The Kansas City freeze coalition could surely obtain permission to post a set of statistics on numbers of Minuteman missiles based throughout the United States, the overall nuclear firepower of the United States, and the extent to which our nuclear gun is overloaded...

...Kauffman has opened the debate...

...The Act, he said, "does not regulate the acquisition of information obtained from the intelligence services of our allies, and past history has shown that these liaison relationships are fertile ground for circumvention of restrictions on U.S...

...In fact, the Government must show probable cause to believe that the target "knowingly engages in clandestine intelligence-gathering activities for or on behalf of a foreign power, which activities involve or may involve a violation of the criminal laws of the United States," or that the target "pursuant to the direction of an intelligence service or network of a foreign power, knowingly engages in any other clandestine intelligence activities for or on behalf of such foreign power, which activities involve or are about to involve a violation of the criminal statutes of the United States...

...The skills in question include, at a minimum, basic literacy, and some conception of how businesses operate—including the fact that if you lack habits of "attendance and punctuality" (i.e., if you show up on the job only if and when you feel like it) you get fired...

...Beyond the outright ignoring of priorities set by NOW members through their conference resolutions, the NOW leadership has actively stifled internal debate on emerging issues such as the link between ERA and abortion rights...

...Obviously, NOW cannot be everything to everybody...

...I was distressed because I am tired of people trashing NOW...

...I don't see them trashing any other civil rights groups, because they realize they would be accused of racism...

...For an organization that prides itself on having political savvy, NOW seems surprisingly ignorant of the rules of the game it has decided to play...

...It remains the only statutory limitation on the conduct of intelligence activities to be enacted in the post-Watergate era...

...Court approval is required in such circumstances where a wire or radio communication is sent or received by a "particular, known United States person who is in the United States" and that person is intentionally targeted, or where any wire communication to or from a person in the United States is intercepted in the United States...

...Government agencies...