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Advocacy Blog
Friday, October 05, 2007
House Surveillance Bill Could Be Made Public Soon
In response to the Protect America Act (PAA) signed into law in August which temporarily reformed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Democrats are now working on a new, hopefully more conscious piece of legislation to revise FISA. The House Select Intelligence Committee is scheduled to mark up a bill next Wednesday and according to CQ ($$), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has postponed plans to brief reporters on the bill, originally planned for today (Oct.5). Reportedly the bill would not grant retroactive liability protection to telecommunications firms that cooperated with government surveillance, a top priority for the administration, because the White House has not provided Congress with documents about those activities. House Intelligence Committee Chair Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), "said he favors a requirement that intelligence agencies secure a warrant for monitoring communications involving U.S. citizens in the United States beyond a short emergency period, even if the target of the surveillance is a foreigner located outside the country."
Reyes said the administration should be required to decide within 72 hours whether someone inside the U.S. is involved in a terrorist activity, and if so, the administration must get a warrant to continue monitoring their communications. If they are not, the monitoring activity must stop. However, it is not clear if those provisions will be in the new bill.
Civil liberties advocates are concerned that House Democrats will introduce a bill that hews too closely to the administration's desires. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which includes 71 House Democrats, issued a statement calling for greater involvement by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in overseeing government anti-terrorism surveillance, and no "amnesty" for telecommunications companies.
Click here to read the Congressional Progressive Caucus' position on revising FISA.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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