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June 20, 2008
Statement Concerning House Vote on FISA Reform
I voted in favor of compromise legislation to reform aspects of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) law. This bill, supported by the entire Democratic Leadership of the House of Representatives, contained several important provisions that will clarify the application of this law in order to assure Americans that their communications are secure and private.
Among these are provisions that:
- Make it clear that when US individuals are involved – citizens, legal permanent residents, or persons with refugee status – a warrant is required to tap into any communications, regardless of where the person is located in the world;
- A warrant is also necessary to conduct surveillance on foreign individuals inside the United States;
- Prior court approval of broader surveillance efforts will be mandated through this legislation to ensure that the methods used sufficiently protect the civil liberties of US persons;
- The bill also stipulates that the only warrantless surveillance that can be conducted is of foreign persons who are all located outside of the United States;
- In addition, this bill also substantially improves the oversight of the FISA program, tasking the Inspectors General of DOJ, DNI, NSA, and DOD to conduct a review of the President’s warrantless wiretapping program and provide those reviews to the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.
I remain unsatisfied with the provisions addressing telecommunications companies, which can, through the language of this bill, seek to dismiss civil lawsuits against them if they can document that their judgment in cooperating on the surveillance program was based on a legal interpretation issued by the Justice Department. I believe this still does not send a strong enough message to the industry and to the American people. However, I supported the bill because I believe it was important to seize this opportunity to implement the improvements and clarifications in the legal framework of the FISA law that are contained in this legislation – ensuring that legitimate surveillance of foreign individuals can be accomplished in the future with appropriate protection of our citizens’ civil liberties.
I am also encouraged that the entire Democratic Leadership recognized the benefits that this compromise represented. In particular, I was impressed by the remarks that the Majority Leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer, made on behalf of himself and Speaker Pelosi during the House floor debate on the bill:
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