RM Ruppersberger Opening Statement for HPSCI Mark up of the USA Freedom Act

For Immediate Release                                                              Contact: Allison Getty
May 8, 2014                                                                        202-225-7690    
                                                                                  allison.getty@mail.house.gov

(Washington, DC) – Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Ranking Member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, delivered the following opening statement at the Committee’s mark up of the USA Freedom Act on May 8, 2014.

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Through your leadership, we on this Committee continue to take on the toughest problems facing the country and we continue to work together to do what is best for the American people. Once again, we have proven that bi-partisanship can occur.  And we have proven that it can be contagious.  Your leadership has not only given us an excellent FISA reform bill, but it has encouraged another Committee, the House Judiciary Committee, to put forward a responsible, bi-partisan reform proposal as well.

In fact, your leadership has influenced Judiciary so much, and you have been working so closely with them these past few weeks to bring their bill in line with ours, that we can now Mark Up a compromise bill. I support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to pass it out of Committee. It has come a long way. 

As everyone on this Committee knows, I was strongly opposed to the original USA FREEDOM Act because it made us less safe.  It confused criminal evidentiary collection with intelligence collection in a dangerous way.  Under the original bill, we couldn’t have used 215 to find out that a terrorist in Yemen was calling a flight school in Florida without there already being an ongoing FBI investigation.

But, with Judiciary dropping the requirement that there be an open investigation before conducting a business records query, I am confident that the bill is now on the right path.

I am pleased to see that the revised bill bans bulk collection, that it requires a court order before any search, and that it has an emergency exception when there isn’t time to get to a court.

There has been a drastic improvement to where the Judiciary bill was originally.  From our vantage point on HPSCI, this is a great bi-partisan compromise we should all support out of committee.  This is what legislating should be: hard work, compromise, outreach, trust and building relationships.

But, I still believe we need to make some important clarifying amendments, particularly to how this bill deals with the collection of Call Detail Records created in the future. This bill, as currently written, only permits prospective queries of Call Detail Records when relevant to protect against international terrorism.

If we want to know whenever a North Korean nuclear proliferator calls someone in Syria—we can’t. We can find out if he called yesterday, but not if he calls tomorrow.

If we get a phone number of a suspected Russian spy and we want to uncover the larger spy ring by finding out who he calls tomorrow, and the next day, and for the next 180 days—we can’t. Yes, under the current bill, if we get a phone number we suspect is connected to a terrorist, we can find out who he is in contact with for up to 180 days.

But, we on this Committee know that the threats our country faces are not confined to international terrorism.  We face grave threats from nations like Iran and North Korea. 

We face grave threats from those countries looking to conduct cyber attacks and to smuggle weapons of mass destruction. Look, there’s a reason that FISA stands for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, not the Counter-Terrorism Surveillance Act.

FISA currently authorizes an application for a court order to get business records, including call detail records, in order to “obtain foreign intelligence,” “to protect against international terrorism,” or to protect against “clandestine intelligence activities.”

We are less safe when we arbitrarily focus on only 1/3 of the threats. But, I know that after this Mark Up, we will have more opportunities to improve this bill. I have other operational concerns that I know the Chairman also feels strongly about, and that I know we can work to make sure are resolved as the bill moves forward. 

But, that aside, I think the bill we have before us today is worthy of advancing out of our Committee. It has a strong amicus provision, which Mr. Langevin, you championed in our bill, and which Mr. Schiff and Mr. Himes fought for as well.

It has an enhanced Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court reporting provision, which Mr. Thompson and Lobiondo championed in our bill, that ensures expanded transparency for Members regarding FISC decisions, orders, and opinions. It opens up FISA reporting to more Members of Congress, just as Ms. Schakowsky has advocated.

And, this bill requires a declassification review of certain FISC decisions, orders, and opinions, just as Ms. Sewell championed. 

I am also pleased to see that this bill includes a sunset provision, which many of you have argued for.  Congress must stay involved.  At the same time, we do not need to be back here in a few months time, so this bill sets the sunset in 2017 to line up with other FISA sunsets.

Ultimately, everyone on this Committee should be proud.  While other committees have jurisdiction over FISA, none have conducted the extraordinary level of bipartisan outreach and research that we have.  HPSCI members and Staff have reached out to every affected sector, including the telecom companies, the tech industry and privacy groups.  We worked with the White House, the intelligence agencies, and Members of Congress.

The bill we Mark Up today greatly advances the goals we set at the start of this difficult process of reforming FISA: enhancing privacy and transparency, while keeping this country, and its allies, safe.  We have seen great convergence and a great momentum building.  Let me be clear, there is still more that must be done, and will be done; but we must keep it moving today. 

I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill.

Thank you.  I yield back.

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