Powerful House members also support a package of surveillance reforms.
by Joe Mullin
by Joe Mullin
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed support yesterday for serious surveillance reform, saying he will introduce legislation that calls for an end to the National Security Agency's (NSA) mass dragnet of phone data. The bill would also add some type of public advocate to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) who could argue against the positions presented by intelligence agencies.
Leahy's suggestions mirror reforms in a bill introduced last week by committed reformers like Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mark Udall (D-CO), and Rand Paul (R-KY). But the Wyden-Udall-Paul bill, spearheaded by two longtime NSA critics, wouldn't necessarily have gone far.
However, Leahy—the chairman of the judiciary committee—is clearly in a powerful position from which to move such a bill forward. In the Senate, it's going to be a serious Democrat-on-Democrat battle, since the chairman of the Senate's top intelligence committee, Diane Feinstein (D-CA), has made it clear she will fight such a bill.
At a hearing yesterday, Feinstein said the bulk data collection could prevent another event like the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
“I will do everything I can to prevent this program from being canceled out…to destroy it is to make this nation more vulnerable," said Feinstein, according to a Politico report on the hearing.
The justification for bulk data collection was "strained at best," said Leahy. He doesn't believe the position of the intelligence community that the bulk data program stopped 54 terrorist plots, citing "inaccurate" reports from the Obama Administration. "That’s plainly wrong. These weren’t all plots, and they weren’t all thwarted,” he said.
“Just because something is technologically possible, and just because something may be deemed technically legal, does not mean that it is the right thing to do," Leahy added.
It isn't clear how many senators on the committee would support Leahy's position. Support could come from conservative Republicans on the committee like Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), but neither voiced their positions yesterday, according to Politico. Democrats called for reform but were more focused on smaller measures, like adding an advocate to the FISC.
Leahy is working together with politicians pushing an identical bill in the House, where the idea of banning bulk data collection is drawing important supporters like the Republican head of House Judiciary oversight, Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). (Sensenbrenner co-authored the PATRIOT Act). According to Politico, the ranking Democratic member of House Judiciary John Conyers (D-MI) is also a supporter. Before Congress' summer break, Conyers worked with Republican Justin Amash (R-MI) to co-sponsor a House vote that nearly de-funded the NSA bulk data programs.
Courtesy: arstechnica
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