Congressman Nadler Supports RESTORE Act

Bill Protects Civil Liberties and Enhances National Security

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, today urged his colleagues to pass H. R. 3773 Responsible Electronic Surveillance that is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective Act of 2007 (RESTORE Act).  Rep. Nadler is an original co-sponsor of the bill that was introduced by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-14) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (TX-16).  The RESTORE Act is expected to be voted on in the House today.

“The RESTORE Act restores the rule of law and the proper role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,” said Rep. Nadler.  “This bill does not stop our government from listening to the terrorists to find out what they are doing and plotting.  Indeed, the bill not only increases funding, it focuses our efforts on real threats and ensures that these powers are used correctly and consistently with our laws and our Constitution.”

The Conyers-Reyes bill reinforces the role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court in regards to electronic surveillance programs, clarifies that foreign to foreign communications do not require court approval, requires FISA warrants when targeting domestic communications, and directs the Justice Department’s Inspector General to conduct periodic audits of surveillance activities.  The bill also includes an amendment authored by Rep. Nadler to strengthen the judicial oversight of the surveillance programs by the FISA Court.  

Additionally, the bill provides resources for the National Security Agency and the Justice Department for processing FISA applications and other submissions to the FISA court in a timely and efficient manner, and to comply with the audit, reporting and record keeping requirements.  It also includes emergency provisions, including the ability to get a warrant after the fact, to ensure that the government will never have to stop listening to a suspected terrorist plotting an attack.

The bill does not include immunity for telecommunications companies that may have broken the law when they participated in the President’s warrantless wiretapping program.  

“We must not reward companies that may have assisted in criminal activity,” Rep. Nadler added.  “It would be irresponsible to grant retroactive immunity for a program we know so little about.  Indeed, we recently found out that the program may have predated 9/11 and that the companies may have knowingly acted without proper legal authorization.”

Rep. Nadler noted that while some have argued that that the bill would allow for the wholesale collection of the communications of Americans, it would not in fact do that.  Rather, it requires the government to have court approved procedures for determining when they are targeting an American and must get a warrant from the FISA Court.  It would maintain the longstanding requirement that a warrant is needed to listen to a person in the United States or a U.S. person abroad and that a warrant is not needed to listen to communications outside the United States.  The Act also contains minimization procedures to protect any U.S. person who may have their conversation inadvertently monitored.

“A plain reading of the bill shows that it provides stronger privacy protections for the communications of Americans,” said Rep. Nadler.  “It also provides increased funding, greater clarity, and focus to our intelligence agencies so they can more effectively monitor and disrupt terrorist operations.”