Issues
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FISA All surveillance conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) must be approved by the FISA Court. Our homeland security experts and the Director for the Office of National Intelligence have been very clear that while they can identify terrorist suspects who pose a significant threat to the United States, they cannot conduct surveillance on these people because the suspects either move or change phones before the FISA Court can issue a warrant, or the suspects use phones that are connected to phone networks in the United States. Some courts have held that because these networks are in the United States, the communications – foreign-to-foreign calls – are protected by the Fourth Amendment. The President and Intelligence Director have requested long-term authority to conduct surveillance on foreign-to-foreign calls, an expedited FISA warrant process, and immunity for telephone companies that agree to work with our homeland security experts. The House leadership has blocked repeated attempts to force the House to consider a bill that would satisfy the request of the President and Intelligence Director. I am deeply concerned that politics have overtaken common sense and the result has left our intelligence experts without the tools they need to prevent a future terrorist attack. |