Rep. Calvert: Domestic Spying or Terrorist Surveillance?

Dear Friends,

The greatest threat facing our country is another attack by Islamic extremist terrorists. To prevent such an attack, we must provide our intelligence agencies every legal tool to detect and prevent further harm to America. Many of you have probably followed the debate over FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA was originally passed in 1978 (50 U.S.C. §§ 1801) and the Protect America Act (P.L. 110-55), which updated FISA and created the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP), became law on August 5, 2007. The focus of TSP, which is part of FISA, is to provide the intelligence community with the tools it needs to protect the United States and its citizens, while also protecting the civil liberties of those impacted by such collection. Our intelligence community has been working without the necessary tools provided under the Protect America Act since February 17, 2008, because the House Democratic Leadership chose not to extend authorization. 

The good news is last week the Senate passed H.R. 6304 by a vote of 69-28. The legislation previously passed the House on June 20, 2008 with my support. The bill rewrites the electronic surveillance guidelines and provides the intelligence community with the authority they need to monitor international terrorist communications. It also provides liability protections to telephone companies that cooperated with the intelligence community in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. However, the protections will only be given if a federal district court determines they received assurances from the government that the program was legal and authorized by the President. I do not believe we should open up lawsuits against companies that acted in good faith for the protection of U.S. citizens.

FISA is a complicated issue and here is a breakdown of what the new bill does and does not change:

• For an American citizen at home nothing changes. Law enforcement stills must obtain a warrant and FISA court approval for electronic surveillance of a U.S. citizen.

• If a foreigner overseas is being targeted, the intelligence community must go to the FISA court for approval to collect and monitor information or communication. However, the FISA court can issue a broad approval that is good for up to one year thus eliminating individual warrant requests. There are emergency provisions that allow the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to permit the collection of information. However the intelligence agency must submit the information to FISA to get approval afterwards. 

• A big change in the bill is that if an American overseas is being targeted for surveillance, the intelligence agency must obtain a FISA court approval. Before H.R. 6304, the Attorney General could make a probable cause determination and approve the surveillance.

One of the most important tools in the Global War on Terrorism is our ability to collect information on potential threats. H.R. 6043 protects Americans civil liberties, even while they are overseas, but allows our intelligence community to operate with the speed they need to prevent future attacks.

I welcome your input as I understand this is an issue that is important to the constituents of the 44^th Congressional District of California. 

Sincerely,

KEN CALVERT

Member of Congress