And it was a program that was renewed on a regular basis, and required signature by the attorney general certifying to its legality.
Carrie Wibben, who heads the counterintelligence and security directorate for the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, wrote to the inspector general certifying that she found "no factual errors" in the inspectors' findings.
The bill "would ban local and state governments from using facial recognition until certain conditions are met, including a report by the state attorney general certifying that systems in use are equally accurate for people of differing races, skin tones, ethnicities, genders, or age," according to Wired.
And perhaps most strikingly, the law allows the government to detain any foreigners whom the attorney general certifies as endangering national security.
Contrary to current practice, the Senate bill would halt such lawsuits if the attorney general certifies that the assistance provided by the telecom carrier is lawful.
The law also expands to seven days, from three, the period for emergency wiretaps on Americans without a court order if the attorney general certifies there is probable cause to believe the target is linked to terrorism.
Before Justice Richard Carruthers handed down the sentence, Mr. Tackman rambled for several moments and demanded that the state attorney general certify the constitutionality of the laws under which he was convicted.
Clinton's executive order of Feb. 9, 1995, for example, allowed such wiretaps — but only if the Attorney General certifies that the search will not involve "the premises, information, material, or property of a United States person".
against any person" for giving the government information, including customer records, in connection with alleged intelligence activity the attorney general certifies "is, was, would be or would have been" intended to protect the United States from terrorist attack.
Emergency legislation rushed through Congress - the USA Patriot Act - allows the indefinite detention of "non-citizens" once the attorney general "certifies" he has "reasonable grounds to believe" the individual is engaged in terrorist activities or endangers national security, the report said.
Well, let's assume Congress says, then, that the Attorney General, or the President may authorize the Attorney General, in specific situations, to carry out electronic surveillance if the Attorney General certifies that there is a clear and present danger to the security of the United States?
