Why obama ndaa

The bill also contains provisions making it difficult to transfer suspects out of military detention, which prompted FBI Director Robert Mueller to testify that it could jeopardize criminal investigations. It also restricts the transfers of cleared detainees from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to foreign countries for resettlement or repatriation, making it more difficult to close Guantanamo, as President Obama pledged to do in one of his first acts in office.

December 31, These provisions are not applicable to protesters in Portland. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. The symmetry of power is shifting and governments and non-state actors alike are scrambling to keep up. Sometimes this creates real security threats. Hacking outfits like Anonymous present a real challenge to governments and corporations.

At times these groups may act honorably, attempting to expose corruption. At times they may act without such noble intentions. Either way there is no denying that security is an issue going forward and that the overreaction of governments to a myriad security risks poses its own set of problems and challenges.

I've written in the past that people concerned with civil liberties should begin to walk away from the old left-right dichotomy entirely and focus on electing civil libertarians to congress whether these are members of the left like Russ Feingold or of the right like Rand Paul.

We have few options available to us at this point. The NDAA may be challenged in the courts, and this will almost certainly happen if the president or a future president actually makes use of the powers related to US citizens. Even then, however, the courts could come down on either side. The Supreme Court is not exactly filled to the brim with civil libertarians. Until that time, however, we can try to abandon politics-as-usual and focus on electing politicians who care more about curtailing government excess than expanding government power endlessly in our never-ending War on Terror.

And we can use technology, social media, and other tools at our disposal to act outside of politics altogether to work to create alternate institutions and communities. Look at what Reddit has done with its boycott of GoDaddy. The power of online activism is only just emerging. Technology may only be a tool, but I think we'll discover that it's a powerful one.

Read my Forbes blog here. This provision effectively prevents the president from carrying out his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo.

However, there are other provisions in the defense bill that also merit a presidential veto. This allows the Navy to avoid having to make the hard choices necessary for it to stay within its own budget allowance. Moreover, if this provision becomes law, there is no doubt that the Air Force will seek a similar exemption for purchasing land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, and bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The bill also contains several provisions regarding ballistic missile defense, or BMD, that conflict with Pentagon policies. It authorizes the Department of Defense to purchase 18 additional Aegis BMD missiles , or 45 percent more of these missiles than the military believes it needs.