For immediate release:
August 3, 2007
Contact:
David McGuire
(202) 637-9800 x106
WASHINGTON -- The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) opposes legislation introduced today by the House leadership. The bill, H.R. 3356 -- which is nominally intended to exempt the interception of "foreign-to-foreign" communications from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- would also permit, without sufficient protections, the interception of calls into and out of the United States, thereby infringing on the rights of Americans.
"Simply put, this legislation would render FISA ineffective when it comes to protecting the privacy Americans' of international communications," said Greg Nojeim. "The bill effectively allows the government to spy on Americans when the it targets someone overseas with whom a person in the U.S. is communicating. Americans today have many legitimate reasons to talk to people overseas, but the House bill deprives them of their privacy when they do so."
The bill "sunsets" in 180 days and calls for Inspector General audits, which may shed some light on how the new intelligence surveillance authority is used. However, what is needed is a stronger role for the FISA court when surveillance involves people in the U.S.
CDT is concerned that many of the Administration's statements about this issue have been misleading and have seemed intended to politicize national security and civil liberties. CDT applauds those members of Congress, including Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who worked tirelessly to develop a strong bill that would enhance national security and protect the rights of Americans.