Drake Votes Against Attempt to Hamper Intelligence Efforts

Press Release

Drake Votes against Attempt to Hamper Intelligence Efforts
Democrat supported FISA legislation would keep "terrorist loophole" open

Washington, Nov 15 - U.S. Representative Thelma Drake (VA-02) today voted against legislative efforts to weaken our national security by adding unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to our nation's intelligence collection process. The bill, which has little chance of success in the Senate and drew an immediate veto threat from the President, was approved by the House of Representatives by a vote of 287-189.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), passed in 1978, set the guidelines for national intelligence agencies to monitor communications between foreigners. However, as technology has changed, the American intelligence gathering capabilities have not kept pace, resulting in significant intelligence gaps that put our homeland at risk.

The RESTORE Act forces the government to obtain a warrant in order to listen to any call in which one party is physically in the United States, even if the target of the investigation is a foreign national calling from overseas.

"It is absurd that in a time of war we would provide terrorists like Osama bin Laden who are calling U.S. phone numbers the protections of a U.S. citizen," said Rep. Drake. "There is a need to update FISA, but it is my hope that the Democrats will let Republicans sit at the negotiating table, like they did in August when we reauthorized this law, so that we can have a bipartisan product that will protect the civil liberties of American citizens while ensuring that our intelligence community has the tools it needs to protect the security of our nation."

Earlier this year, it was revealed that two servicemembers who had gone missing in Iraq were held by terrorists for 9 hours while U.S. lawyers filled out the paperwork needed to conduct the necessary surveillance.

"Support for the troops means giving them all the tools needed to stay alive and accomplish their mission. Sadly, this misguided attempt to provide legislative oversight does little to ensure their safety and less to ensure that we do not face another September 11th," continued Rep. Drake.

In August, Congress passed the bipartisan Protect America Act, which gave our intelligence community the flexibility needed to actively pursue those who wish to do our nation harm. The RESTORE Act, which was removed from floor consideration in October due to a lack of support, would supplant this legislation.

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