Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. STEWART. Mr. Chair, I rise today to oppose the Massie amendment and the inaccurate accusations that underlie it. Let me restate that. The supposition of this amendment is based off a fundamental misunderstanding of intelligence operations.

Contrary to rumor, it is illegal to use 702 surveillance authorities to spy on Americans. It is subject to multiple layers of oversight, and section 702 is an extremely powerful tool that has proven effective in disrupting terror plots, including, for one example, the 2009 plot to bomb the New York City subway. If this amendment were in effect today, the intelligence community would be unable to query the 702 database for the names of the Orlando nightclub attacker, for his wife, or even the nightclub itself.

We should be focusing on thwarting terror attacks, not on thwarting the ability of intelligence professionals to investigate and to stop them.

Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to prioritize the safety of U.S. citizens and to reject false allegations. Let me say that one more time: false and irresponsible allegations of government spying on Americans. We can scarcely afford to hamstring our intelligence community as it investigates these horrific shootings and tries to prevent similar plots from reaching fruition.

All of us want to protect our privacy and our constitutional rights. I want to protect our privacy and our constitutional rights. But objections to intelligence operations must be based on facts and not rumors or misunderstandings. Limiting access to critical law enforcement tools to stop these plots would directly put Americans in danger.

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