Hooley Seeks Greater Civil Liberty Protections for Domestic Surveillance
Press Release
Hooley Seeks Greater Civil Liberty Protections for Domestic Surveillance
--Hooley Original Cosponsor of Bill to Restore Protections--
Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-14) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (TX-16) introduced legislation that would restore court oversight of intelligence gathering activities. The Responsible Electronic Surveillance that is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective Act of 2007 (RESTORE Act) would require that electronic surveillance programs be approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court and that FISA warrants be obtained when the government wants to undertake surveillance of persons in the U.S. It would also authorize continued oversight of programs by Congress.
"The number one priority of the US Congress is to protect the American people from threats both domestic and foreign," said Congresswoman Darlene Hooley (OR-5), an original cosponsor of the RESTORE Act. "This legislation will help us track down terrorists but it will also protect the Constitutional civil liberties of Americans by requiring strong oversight by the courts and Congress."
The Protect America Act (PAA), signed into law by President Bush in August, reauthorized major provisions of FISA on a short-term basis. The RESTORE Act aims to improve several broad provisions of the PAA that have come under scrutiny because of concerns about civil liberty protections.
The bill clarifies and eliminates ambiguous language in the PAA that appeared to authorize warantless searches inside the United States, including physical searches of American homes, offices, computers, and medical records. The RESTORE Act maintains that a court warrant is not required to intercept communications of non-United States persons when both ends of the communications are outside of the United States.
"We will continue to provide the intelligence community with the tools necessary to keep Americans safe," added Hooley. "We will also demand that oversight and accountability be maintained."
The House Judiciary Committee and the House Select Committee on Intelligence are expected to act on the legislation tomorrow.
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