Democrats Restore Rights to Foreign Terrorists
RESTORE Act reopens Intelligence gap
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM) today helped lead the opposition against the RESTORE Act, a bill that amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
“The Democrat bill restores the ability of terrorists to kill Americans and ties the hands of the intelligence agencies trying to prevent another terrorist attack,” said Wilson.
“The Democrat bill limits the types of intelligence that can be collected. The bill requires a warrant to listen to foreigners in foreign countries relating to the foreign affairs of the United States. That means we need a warrant to collect intelligence on human rights in Burma or narco-trafficking in Columbia, or political links between Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Castro in Cuba. This would be an unprecedented expansion of the court’s involvement, limiting foreign intelligence collection.”
Under the Democrat bill, telecommunications providers who may have assisted law enforcement in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks are not given immunity for their assistance. These private companies will likely be hesitant to provide any future assistance to the Intelligence Community, even when our country is under attack.
In August, temporary changes were made to FISA to close gaps in the law that allowed terrorists to communicate without detection.
The Protect America Act continued to require a warrant to target a person in the United States. This legislation expires on February 1, 2008. Wilson believes this bill should be made permanent.
“Our soldiers should not need an army of lawyers in Washington to intercept the communications of the enemies trying to kill them. Intelligence is the first line of defense in the war on terror. This bill is not only unwise and poorly drafted, it will endanger our country.”
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