May 12, 2015
By
WASHINGTON, D.C
President Barack Obama (click here) is now formally backing the USA Freedom Act authored by Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.
The bill up for a vote this week in the United States House would end the government's bulk collection of Americans' phone records and would require court approval for more restrictive surveillance.
Leahy has long argued the NSA program is overreaching and ineffective and notes the federal courts agree.
"The highly respected appeals court, the second circuit confirmed what we've known for some time. The NSA's bulk collection of Americans phone records is unlawful, it's not essential and it must end," said Leahy.
The White House has previously defended the NSA's data gathering activities, but now says the Leahy bill strikes an appropriate balance between national security needs and privacy concerns.
May 12, 2015
By David Green and Mark Jaycox
The bill up for a vote this week in the United States House would end the government's bulk collection of Americans' phone records and would require court approval for more restrictive surveillance.
Leahy has long argued the NSA program is overreaching and ineffective and notes the federal courts agree.
"The highly respected appeals court, the second circuit confirmed what we've known for some time. The NSA's bulk collection of Americans phone records is unlawful, it's not essential and it must end," said Leahy.
The White House has previously defended the NSA's data gathering activities, but now says the Leahy bill strikes an appropriate balance between national security needs and privacy concerns.
May 12, 2015
By David Green and Mark Jaycox
...Congress must demand more for themselves and for the public (click here)
The Second Circuit decision has changed the playing
field. Members like Senators Leahy and Mike Lee and Representatives Jim
Sensenbrenner, Robert Goodlatte, and John Conyers should be applauded
for working incredibly hard to get the USA Freedom Act through Congress.
Yet as a result of the Second Circuit decision, the USA Freedom Act's
modest changes appear even smaller compared to the now judicially
recognized problems with the mass collection of Americans’ records.
We've supported the USA Freedom Act through all three iterations,
more reluctantly each time, but with this new court opinion, we’ve
decided that Congress can significantly strengthen the bill if we are to
support it.
The Second Circuit aptly compared the current debate to the troubled times of the 1970s. Two years ago, Senator Leahy mentioned that his first vote in the Senate was for the Senate resolution that created the Church Committee.
The Church Committee investigated the intelligence community for three
years and ushered in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in
1978—one of the most robust surveillance reform bills ever. In that same
speech, Senator Leahy vowed to "recalibrate" a failing surveillance
system via the USA Freedom Act.
We urge Senator Leahy and others to draw upon the
vigor of that first vote to push for a stronger reform bill. The Second
Circuit’s decision mandates that we not settle for less and that we
strengthen the USA Freedom Act so it better protects our rights and
freedoms.
