Hearing of the House Permenant Select Committee on Inteligence - NSA Hearing

Hearing

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

And thank you, General Alexander, for being here today to provide your expertise on this very important issue.

We are here today because of the brazen disclosure of critical classified information that keeps our country safe. This widespread leak by a 29-year old American systems administrator put our country and our allies in danger by giving the terrorists a really good look at the playbook that we use to protect our country. The terrorists now know many of our sources and methods.

There has been a lot in the media about this situation. Some right. Some very wrong.

We are holding this open hearing today so we can set the record straight and the American people can hear directly from the Intelligence Community as to what is allowed. And what is not - under the law. We need to educate Members of Congress and the public.

To be clear, the National Security Agency is prohibited from listening in on phone calls of Americans without proper court-approved legal authorities. We live in a country of laws. Our forefathers created a system of checks and balances. These laws are strictly followed and layered with oversight from the three branches of government, including the Executive Branch, the courts, and Congress.

Immediately after 9-11, we learned that a group of terrorists were living in the United States actively plotting to kill Americans on our own soil, but we didn't have the proper authorities in place to stop them before they could kill almost three thousand innocent people.

Good intelligence is clearly the best defense against terrorism.

There are two main authorities that have been highlighted in the press. The Business Records provision allows the government to legally collect what is called metadata - simply the phone number and length of the call. No content. No conversations.
This authority allows our counterterrorism and law enforcement officials to close the gap on foreign and domestic terrorist activities. It enables our Intelligence Community to discover whether foreign terrorists have been in contact with people in the US who may be planning a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

The second authority is known as Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. It allows the government to collect the content of email and phone calls of foreigners - not Americans - located outside of the United States. This allows the government to get information such as for the prevention of terrorism, hostile cyber activities, or nuclear proliferation.

This authority prohibits the targeting of American citizens or U.S. permanent residents without a court order no matter where they are located.

Both of these authorities are legal. Congress approved and reauthorized both of them over the last two years. In fact, these authorities have been instrumental in helping prevent dozens of terrorist attacks - many on U.S. soil.

One of the cases, involving a thwarted attack on the New York subway system in 2009, has both been declassified to show the authorities' importance.

But the fact remains, we must figure out how this could have happened. How was this 29-year old systems administrator able to access such highly classified information about such sensitive matters? And how was he able to download it and remove it from his workplace undetected?

We need to change our systems and practices and employ the latest in technology that will alert superiors when a worker tries to download and remove this type of information. We need to seal this crack in the system.

And to repeat something incredibly important: the NSA is prohibited from listening to phone calls or reading emails of Americans without a court order. Period. End of story.

I look forward to hearing the General's testimony today. Thank you, again, for being here.

Thank You. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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