The Washington Post - 06.04.2020

a18 EZ RE the washington post.monday, april 6 , 2020

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T

HE JUSTICE Department’s inspector gener-

al has followed u p his devastating December

report on the FBI’s securing of a secret

intelligence-gathering warrant on U.S. citi-

zen Carter Page and, once again, the news is not

flattering.

In December, the inspector general, Michael

Horowitz, found that the FBI supplied a secret panel

of judges with unverified, inaccurate and, in one

case, falsified data in support of its warrant applica-

tions regarding Mr. Page. Mr. Horowitz’s new report,

released March 31, makes clear that this was not an

isolated incident. In 29 cases drawn from five years’

worth of FBI secret warrant applications,

Mr. Horowitz found 25 factually flawed files, con-

taining between five and 65 “errors or inadequately

supported” assertions each. As for the other four

cases, one file could not be located and three may

have never been created. Though Mr. Horowitz

reserved judgment as to whether all the inaccura-

cies were “material,” he expressed “no confidence”

that the FBI is properly executing procedures

instituted in 2001 to assure it only seeks permission

for covert surveillance based on “scrupulously

accurate” information.

Confidence is the lifeblood of the Foreign Intelli-

gence Surveillance Act (FISA), the 1978 statute that

gives the FBI authority to wiretap U.S. citizens

suspected of ties to foreign terrorist or intelligence

organizations. The FBI responded to the latest

inspector general statement by saying it has already

cleaned up its fact-checking; yet more will have to be

done to reassure doubters that it can be trusted with

the powerful and intrusive tools FISA provides.

Confidence in its use of FISA tools was flagging, both

among the public and in Congress, even before

Mr. Horowitz laid out the problems in Mr. Page’s c ase.

At the moment, in fact, some of those tools are no

longer lawfully available, having lapsed because of

Congress’s failure to reauthorize them before a

March 15 deadline. Specifically, the government

cannot initiate “roving wiretaps” on suspected

terrorists or spies — including “lone wolves” lacking

known ties to identified groups — or requisition

“business records” from third parties such as

telecommunications providers. The actual harm to

national security is likely minimal since existing

investigations are not affected, but the fact that

Congress could not reach agreement on such

matters, albeit at a time when the coronavirus crisis

is monopolizing its time and attention, shows how

much concern about FISA has spread among both

Republicans and Democrats.

President Trump has not helped matters by

repeatedly denouncing FISA generally due to the

purported “coup” against him in the Page case, even

though abuses in that instance had nothing to do

with the authorities requiring reauthorization. His

complaints have emboldened long-standing FISA

critics on Capitol Hill such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.),

who have a wider agenda to gut what is still broadly

valuable legislation. A compromise FISA reauthori-

zation incorporating significant new civil-liberties

protections had passed the House before March 15,

with the support of Attorney General William P. Barr,

but the Senate’s failure to approve it led to the lapse

in authority. The House measure is the place to start

when the upper chamber addresses FISA, as it

urgently must upon its return from recess April 20.

Another unflattering report on the FBI

The House must urgently address FISA upon its return from recess.

Republicans’ refusal to make reasonable adjust-

ments at a time of emergency may well help their

preferred candidate — Mr. Kelly — hold his seat on

the state Supreme Court. Suppressing the vote

tends to help conservative candidates, hence the

GOP’s long-running effort to make voting harder

through measures s uch as s trict ID laws. During the

covid-19 crisis, these tactics present an even more

severe threat to democracy.

Polls also indicate that Republicans tend to be

less concerned about coronavirus than Democrats.

Wisconsin A ssembly S peaker Robin Vos (R) encour-

aged people “sick of watching Netflix” to volunteer

to be poll workers. T his a ppeal might t urn out m ore

GOP votes, but it is a dangerous message.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered that the

deadline to return absentee ballots be relaxed,

which would help. The next day, Mr. Evers pressed

the legislature harder than ever to take the covid-

crisis seriously, calling a weekend special session

for lawmakers to consider moving to an all

vote-by-mail election. Once again, Republicans

refused to do anything. Meanwhile, they are

appealing the judge’s ruling, opposing even a

simple absentee ballot deadline extension.

Forcing people to choose between their health

and their vote is not the way to run a credible

election.

D

EMOCRACY CANNOT stop during the

coronavirus crisis, which means state and

local leaders must make voting as simple

and as safe as possible under challenging

circumstances. The alternative is the mess unfold-

ing in Wisconsin, slated to vote on Tuesday, which

shows what happens when leaders instead indulge

negligence and partisanship. At almost every turn,

Republicans have blocked efforts to make voting

safer a nd fairer i n the state, raising q uestions a bout

the legitimacy of Tuesday’s elections.

Unlike other states that moved back their April

presidential primaries, Wisconsin’s leaders have

kept their vote scheduled for April 7. They are in a

bind. In addition to the presidential primary,

Wisconsinites are set to vote on dozens of state and

local offices, some of which will soon turn vacant if

voters do not choose replacements. Milwaukee

Mayor To m Barrett is up for reelection. So is

controversial conservative state Supreme Court

justice Daniel Kelly.

But the state is not ready. Some 7,000 poll

workers have withdrawn, leading to widespread

polling-place closures. In-person voters will have to

cram into the small number of locations that will

still operate. Gov. Tony Evers (D) is asking state

workers and even National Guard troops to help

staff them. The state is distributing gallons of hand

sanitizer and using tape to mark out where voters

should stand to observe proper social distancing

principles. Some polling places have fashioned

plexiglass into sneeze-guards to protect staff.

For voters, the obvious option is to vote by mail.

But a surge in absentee ballot applications has led

to long delays in processing requests and returning

ballots to those who have asked for one. Mr. Evers

last month asked the state legislature to relax the

deadline for returning ballots, so that those

postmarked by Election Day would still count, as

well as a cumbersome requirement that absentee

voters upload images of their ID. The Republican-

led legislature refused. Mail-in voters face other

unnecessary hassles, too: The state requires that a

second party witness absentee ballots — at a time

when public health officials are telling people to

stay away from one another.

An unsafe election

Wisconsin Republicans block efforts

to make primary voting easier.

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As science adviser to the director of the National

Park Service from 2009 to 2017, I provided scientific

advice to inform decisions impacting the national

parks, employees and visitors. In the face of the

novel coronavirus pandemic, the science is clear that

all national parks should immediately close.

By design, national parks funnel visitors through

crowded pinch points: trailheads, parking lots,

public restrooms, scenic overlooks and more. It is

impossible to systematically achieve Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for social

distancing at these sites. Risk of asymptomatic

exposure can create new rural epicenters that

expand the pandemic.

Rural health clinics serving parks have little or no

capacity to handle covid-19 outbreaks. Visits endan-

ger gateway communities with few resources to

combat infection of local citizens, park employees

and visitors. Stress on employees is significant. The

chaotic mix of closures, partial closures, park open-

ings and ill-conceived encouragements to visit dur-

ing this national emergency add to the confusion

and harm.

Public health officers of the National Park Service

must provide transparent and public reporting of

covid-19 cases. Conservation and outdoor industry

groups should make clear that public health — not

short-term economic and political benefit — is

paramount. Gateway community mayors and doc-

tors should demand action to protect their citizens.

When the pandemic ends, the parks will reopen

and visitors will return. Science should give Interior

Department and Park Service leaders the courage to

act above politics and do what is right for their

employees, the American people and America’s “best

idea,” and close all the national parks, now.

Gary E. Machlis, Central, S.C.

George T. Conway III’s April 1 op-ed, “Im-

peachment wasn’t the distraction. Trump was,”

reminded us how “distracting” the impeachment

was for the president, who still had time to golf and

hold campaign rallies. How could he have been

distracted when the “jury” f oreman had assured him

there would be no conviction?

I was distracted by the impeachment, vainly

looking for a sign that a Republican senator other

than Mitt Romney (Utah) would acknowledge the

evidence of malfeasance staring them in the face.

Despite that distraction, and despite not being in the

public health arena, I was aware of the serious threat

of the novel coronavirus when travel and large

gatherings were limited in China for the Lunar New

Year. No security briefings, no special training, just

the ability to read and connect the dots as to what

could happen in other places, including here.

Why couldn’t those with access to more targeted

information have seen this and prepared? Maybe I

just have a gift.

Mary Bell, Arlington

In virtually every one of the daily press brief-

ings by the coronavirus task force, when President

Trump is asked why testing was so slow in getting

started in this country, h e repeats that he inherited a

broken system not designed to deal with a pandem-

ic. No one ever asks him why he did not fix it in the

three years he has been in charge. At this point in his

tenure, he cannot simply blame his appointees’

failure to address issues of past administrations.

Kenneth Oestreicher, Rockville

When the pandemic is over, when the bodies

are buried, when the health-care professionals and

first responders are taking a well-deserved rest,

when the grocery store cashiers and stockers are

taking a well-deserved rest, when people breathe a

collective sigh of relief and make a collective cry of

grief, I hope all Americans reflect on how our

political leaders handled this crisis.

I hope Americans will remember the leaders who

gave a call to action and the leaders who minimized

the real threat; the leaders who listened to experts

and the leaders who failed to listen; the leaders who

told the hard truths, made the hard calls, who

thought not of themselves but of their fellow

Americans, and the leaders who thought only of

themselves, their poll numbers, their popularity,

their chances of reelection. I hope Americans will

remember the collaborators in a dangerous cam-

paign of d isinformation and ignorance, and the

champions who asked hard questions and called for

accountability.

I hope Americans will remember those leaders we

trusted with our health and safety — and will

remember those who served us and those who

distracted and misinformed us.

Barbara Franklin, Arlington

Regarding the March 31 news article “New

gas mileage rule to roll back Obama-era policy”:

It is sad to see a rolling back of environmental

protections while the nation is in the throes of the

novel coronavirus pandemic. This crisis has made us

more keenly aware that our health, financial stabili-

ty and overall way of life should never be taken for

granted, as they can change quickly and drastically

when our environment throws us a nasty curveball.

And if we don’t work aggressively to reduce our

carbon emissions, curveballs will become the new

norm. Imagine the horror of a climate change-

r elated disaster, such as a hurricane o r wildfire,

arising concurrently with a deadly virus. Our

situation needs to be viewed as a call to arms to

recognize our fragility in the face of environmental

hazards and to work as hard as we can to minimize

those hazards in the future.

Robert Burnett, Silver Spring

The novel coronavirus p reys on the weakness-

es and vulnerabilities of human lungs. Relaxing

tailpipe rules at a time like this, deliberately and

unnecessarily increasing the pollutants to be dis-

charged closest to our bodies, is insanity. President

Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Ad-

ministrator Andrew Wheeler have once again put

the oil industry’s interests ahead of the health of the

American people.

Larry J. Silverman, Takoma Park,

The writer was associate editor of “Vanishing

Air: The Ralph Nader Study Group Report on

Air Pollution” in 1970.

U.S. leadership during a pandemic

N

EARLY 10 million people have applied for

unemployment benefits in the past two

weeks, a mind-boggling statistic that, stun-

ning a s it is, fails t o adequately communicate

the human tragedy it represents. A month ago in the

United S tates, j obs were abundant, wages were rising,

and labor markets were drawing in previously mar-

ginally attached workers. Now a wave of layoffs,

heavily affecting low- and moderate-income wage-

earners in retail stores, hotels and restaurants, is

swamping those previously positive developments —

and the individual hopes and dreams attached to

them.

The new jobless statistics should guide Congress

and the president as they consider how to craft what

seems an inevitable next phase of their economic

response to the coronavirus crisis on top of the recent

$2.2 trillion Cares Act. The economy is experiencing a

deep, sudden blow to hard-working but vulnerable

people and businesses that employed them. Many of

those firms are small companies, 24 percent of which

may have already gone on temporary shutdown, ac-

cording to a survey released Friday by the U.S. Cham-

ber of Commerce. Among those small businesses that

haven’t ceased operations yet, 40 percent consider it

likely they will do so within the next two weeks, at l east

temporarily, a ccording to the survey.

The situation calls for a correspondingly swift and

strong response targeted at these areas of greatest

need. One popular idea — a massive infrastructure

plan — might be m eritorious in t heory but w ould take

months or years to work through the economy, and

the b enefits w ould be difficult to target. More l ikely to

be effective would be one or more additional rounds

of c ash assistance to households, p ossibly c ontinuing

until some public health or employment target had

been reached, along with additional support to small

business payrolls if and w hen the current $350 b illion

in Small Business Administration lending capability

runs out. State and local governments may also need

additional fiscal support, lest they, too, be forced to

make undue budget cuts in education, public heath,

water and other basic services upon which local

economies depend.

Recognizing these realities, House Speaker Nancy

Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday dialed back her previous

advocacy of a major infrastructure push when Con-

gress returns from its recess, scheduled to conclude

on April 20. She had been joined in that by President

Trump, but this was one time when bipartisan agree-

ment did not connote optimal policy. Ms. Pelosi is

now talking about the need to build on the priorities

in the Cares Act rather t han try to add n ew o nes. For a

country still in the early stages of an economic

disaster, but one that still might be salvaged through

well-timed and well-targeted federal intervention,

this strikes us a s a more realistic approach.

The unemployed need more help

The statistics should guide Congress and the president on the next phase of their economic response.

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editorials

tom toles

In late February, as an administrative action, the

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a

policy to ban plastic bags for lawn waste with the

rationale: “Seven other j urisdictions in the D.C. area

already ban plastic bags for yard waste, and a survey

conducted last summer found 30 percent of Fairfax

County residents are already doing this.” This is not

the deliberate thought and decision process county

residents need from our elected supervisors. And

what about the voice of the other 70 percent of

county residents still using plastic bags for yard

waste? Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) has

been deliberative and persistent in asking for the

impact and reason, without response from county

bureaucrats.

The board’s a ction was under the premise of “This

change was made to reduce the amount of plastic in

the environment.” The board’s a ction may reduce the

amount of plastic in landfills, but to what end?

Mr. Herrity asked reasonable questions that deserve

thoughtful responses from the board’s o wn Environ-

mental Committee and the Fairfax County Depart-

ment of Public Works and Environmental Services.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors should

be held accountable for imposing administrative

change on residents without meaningful dialogue.

Fairfax County residents deserve a more reasoned

approach.

John Medeiros, Burke

Fairfax County deserves a better approach

This is not the deliberate thought and

decision process residents need.

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