Washington, D.C.—Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid today sent President Bush the following letter, requesting
that the President provide all documents and other information sought by the
House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in order to conduct
oversight of the implementation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA):
August 16, 2007
The President
The White House
Dear Mr. President:
Earlier this month, Congress passed S. 1927, an interim
response to your Administration's proposal for changes in the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
That legislation, which you signed into law, expires in six months. At our request, the House and Senate
Judiciary and Intelligence Committees will be conducting thorough oversight of
the implementation of these interim changes, and are working to produce a
longer-term response to your proposal for Congress to consider well in advance
of the expiration of the current law.
We understand that this work has been hindered by the
Administration's continuing refusal to provide all of the documents and other
information sought by the committees.
Therefore we request a prompt response, at a classified level where
necessary, to all outstanding document and information requests by the
committees. Although recent efforts by
the Director of National Intelligence and other Administration officials to
provide some information have been steps in the right direction, much more
needs to be done.
A satisfactory response to our request would include
materials requested by the committees on both current and previous surveillance
programs, legal and other memoranda supporting such programs, applications for
surveillance, any pleadings and courts orders involved, as well as all
information set forth in the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena of June 27,
2007. All of this material and
information should be available for all members of the committees to review,
and be made available to a sufficient number of appropriately cleared staff of
the committees.
Prompt action on these requests and full access to this
information is critical as the Congress considers modifications to FISA that
will ensure effective intelligence gathering in a manner that protects national
security and is consistent with fundamental American freedoms.
Thank you for your attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Nancy Pelosi
Harry Reid
