Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Conyers/Reyes FISA Reform Bill Passes House Committees

Both the House Judiciary and the House Intelligence Committee passed HR 3773, the Responsible Electronic Surveillance that is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective Act of 2007 (RESTORE Act). The bill is meant to reform the Protect America Act (PAA) which passed hastily in August to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The bill is expected to be sent to the House floor for a vote next week.

The RESTORE Act would require more judicial and congressional oversight of foreign intelligence surveillance. The director of national intelligence and the attorney general would have to certify that the surveillance targets are not U.S. citizens, permanent residents or businesses incorporated in the U.S., and that a significant purpose of the surveillance is to obtain foreign intelligence information. CQ ($$) reports that the "application to the court also would have to describe the so-called minimization procedures the government employed to lessen the aggregation and retention of sensitive information about U.S. citizens. It would bar the dissemination of non-public information gleaned from Americans that was not necessary to foreign intelligence-gathering or law enforcement." For a comparison between the PAA and the HR 3773, click here.

Many civil liberties organizations are concerned that the RESTORE Act does not have a requirement for individual warrants to monitor the telephone calls or e-mails of U.S. citizens who come into contact with suspected foreign terrorists. Some groups would like this to be amended so individual court orders are required when surveillance targeted at people abroad intrudes on Americans who are communicating with people overseas.

Meanwhile, Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) a member of the Intelligence Committee also introduced a measure to reform the PAA, HR 3782, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Modernization Act of 2007.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) supports Holt's bill and is most concerned with the lack of individual warrants in the RESTORE Act. An ACLU statement on the RESTORE Act can be read here.

The New York Times today discusses the issue of whether telecommunications companies should have legal immunity for helping the government with their surveillance, which is not currently in either House bill, but offered as an amendment during mark up and voted down.

Changes to the House bill were occurring rapidly today and more changes could be made before it is brought to the floor. Check back for more information, and read this article from the latest Watcher.