Perry Legislation Demands Answers Regarding NSA Domestic Surveillance Programs

Press Release

U.S. Representative Scott Perry recently introduced legislation, the NSA Transparency Act (H.R. 3756), to require this and future Administrations to respond to unanswered questions from lawmakers about the domestic surveillance programs that have collected a myriad of communications data on American citizens. The bill also would make public decisions by the FISA Court that approve data collection under the National Surveillance Act (NSA) programs. In the wake of numerous leaked NSA privacy violations, we must restore public trust and ensure accountability from the NSA for these programs.

"One of my primary responsibilities is to ensure that the privacy and civil liberties of every American guaranteed in the Constitution remain protected", said Rep. Perry. "This bill improves the process by ensuring that Congress has the proper information necessary to carry out its oversight role. We must ensure that law-abiding Americans are not needlessly harmed by over- intrusive government surveillance programs. Our number one priority must be to ensure that Americans are safe, but not at the cost of violating the founding principles that make this country great. The NSA Transparency Act will help safeguard the proper balance between protecting our civil liberties while maintaining our national security."

Rep. Perry previously supported other bi-partisan legislation to increase oversight of domestic surveillance programs. The NSA Transparency Act is based upon Democrat sponsored legislation in the Senate to increase oversight and accountability over domestic surveillance programs. Specifically, the NSA Transparency Act requires the present and future Administrations to publicly disclose:

if the FISA Court issues a decision determining that U.S. government activities have violated the Constitution;
when the NSA began bulk collection of communication records of a large number of American citizens;
whether the NSA ever collected location data on innocent Americans using cellular phone technology; and
whether and how many warrantless searches of communications data took place in order to target a particular American citizen.

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