Congress introduces USA Freedom Act to limit NSA's domestic phone spying
By Kevin Collier on October 29, 2013
The bill regarded as standing the best chance of actually curtailing the National Security Agency's domestic spying activities in the near future was introduced into Congress Tuesday.
The USA Freedom Act—an acronym for the slightly more cumbersome “Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet Collection, and Online Monitoring Act"—was jointly introduced into the House and Senate Tuesday, respectively by Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
Most notably, the bill would stop the NSA’s from collecting and storing phone practically all American call records, a practice unknown before former agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked evidence of its existence, and now openly admitted by the U.S.
But it seeks to address a handful of other NSA-related issues dear to privacy activists, too, like creating a public advocate to stand for private citizens during the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and forcing the FISC to disclose any ruling that creates a "significant construction or interpretation of the law."
Ironically, both men helped create that practice in the first place. Each voted for the USA Patriot Act—Sensenbrenner was its principal author—back in 2001, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. One of the more than 100 sections of the U.S. Code amended by the Patriot Act allowed for the NSA to begin getting American phone records in bulk, which the agency had already started doing at a smaller scale.
The USA Freedom Act, though, would end that practice. "Somewhere along the way, the balance between security and privacy was lost," Sensenbrenner said in his announcement of the bill. "It’s now time for the judiciary committees to again come together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the law is properly interpreted, past abuses are not repeated and American liberties are protected."
The House has addressed metadata collection once before. In July, Congressman Justin Amash (R-Mich.) brought forth a budget amendment bill that would defund the portion of the NSA's budget devoted to Americans' phone records. The bill fell 12 votes short of passing, catching seemingly everyone by surprise. Amash has since thrown his full support behind Sensenbrenner's bill.
By any measure, the USA Freedom Act has far more support at its outset than Amash's amendment did. More than 70 House representatives have signed as cosponsors, as have 16 senators. At least six representatives who voted against Amash's bill have since pledged to vote for the USA Freedom Act. And as Sensenbrenner and Leahy note, a wide range of advocacy groups have offered their support, ranging from the ACLU, NRA, and Stop Watching Us, the coalition of privacy activists who marched on Washington, D.C. on Saturday.
"The days of unfettered spying on the American people are numbered," Amash declared in a press release. "This is the bill the public has been waiting for."
White House offers tentative support for plans to rein in NSA surveillance
Administration says NSA leaks have already prompted changes in intelligence-gathering, including check on UN monitoring
The White House indicated on Tuesday that it would support at least some of the congressional efforts to rein in the controversial surveillance practices of the National Security Agency, as political opinion in Washington hardened against the country’s embattled intelligence community.
The administration revealed that an internal government review in the wake of revelations by the whistleblower Edward Snowden had already led to changes in US intelligence-gathering activities – thought to be a ban on eavesdropping on the leaders of friendly governments and a curb on surveillance at the United Nations.
But wider checks on domestic surveillance practices also looked increasingly likely on Tuesday, as bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate and party leaders united in calling for reform.
Even as the White House acknowledged that legislative reform of the NSA was inevitable, senior intelligence officials mounted a uncompromising defence of their current programs. At a congressional hearing, General Keith Alexander, the director of the NSA, forcefully and emotionally rejected calls to curtail his agency’s power. Alexander, who declared he was speaking “from the heart”, said the NSA would prefer to “take the beatings” from the public and in the media “than to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked”.
At the White House, chief spokesman Jay Carney welcomed the various reform efforts in principle but declined to discuss specific recommendations until the conclusion of a separate White House investigation.
“In general the president is supportive of the idea that we need to make some reforms,” Carney said in response to questions about the new legislation. He said that it was important “to increase the confidence that the American people have in these programmes, and to perhaps provide greater oversight and greater transparency as well as more constraints on the authorities that exist”. White House press secretary Jay Carney speaks at the daily press briefing White House press secretary Jay Carney speaks at the daily press briefing in the Brady press briefing room of the White House in Washington, where he took questions on reviewing intelligence gathering of foreign allies. Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP
Carney also revealed that the White House review would concentrate on whether the US acted appropriately in relation to surveillance activities on its allies. The White House has been under intense pressure in recent days since reports emerged that the NSA had targeted the cellphone of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. “The concerns raised by our allies cause us concern too,” Carney said.
The House speaker John Boehner and Senate majority leader Harry Reid also expressed support for reform on Tuesday. "The NSA situation is one we need to look at," said Reid. "I support the complete review of all of these programs."
On Monday night, President Barack Obama said his administration was conducting a complete review of intelligence activities. Interviewed on television network Fusion, Obama said: "What we've seen over the last several years is their capacities continue to develop and expand, and that's why I'm initiating now a review to make sure that what they're able to do doesn't necessarily mean what they should be doing.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, called for a "total review of all intelligence programs" following the Merkel allegations. In a statement on Monday, the California Democrat said the White House had informed her that "collection on our allies will not continue". Carney would not elaborate on that statement on Tuesday.
The near unanimity among political leaders left intelligence leaders striking an increasingly lonely defence of the practices at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
At a hearing of the House intelligence committee, Alexander argued that a continued threat of terrorism justified retaining the agency’s post-9/11 powers. At the same hearing, the director of national intelligence James Clapper warned the panel to be mindful of the “risks of overcorrection” in surveillance reform – suggesting that proposed restrictions on bulk surveillance would leave the country in danger of a terrorist attack.
Addressing the growing international row over NSA spying, Alexander forcefully argued that reports of the agency collecting millions of Europeans’ phone calls were “absolutely false”.
But Clapper danced around the central question of how much Obama knew about NSA’s separate surveillance activities on foreign leaders. He said that the intelligence agencies “do only what the policymakers, writ large, have actually asked us to do”. He added that the “level of detail” about how those requirements are implemented rarely rose to the attention of presidents.
Two Democratic representatives, Adam Schiff of California and Jan Schakowski of Illinois, suggested that the House intelligence committee was not informed about the foreign leader spying. Clapper, without confirming that the spying took place, said that “we have by and large complied with the spirit and intent of the law”.
Schiff drew a heated and unexpected rebuke from the committee chairman, Republican Mike Rogers, who called his suggestion “disingenuous”. The committee has access to “mounds of product” from the NSA, Rogers said. Schiff shot back a direct question about whether Rogers in fact knew about the foreign leader spying, which Rogers said he could not answer without confirming – but invited the committee member to view reams of intelligence in private.
There is an increasing sense in Washington that Congress, and perhaps the White House, will impose some form limitation on the NSA’s authorities – a rarity since 9/11. Even Charles "Dutch" Ruppersberger, another staunch NSA ally, signalled he was open to transforming the collection of Americans’ call data.
“Can we move away from bulk collection and toward a system like the one used in the criminal prosecution system, in which the government subpoenas individual call data records,” Ruppersberger told the House committee hearing.
“Can we move away from bulk collection and toward a system like the one used in the criminal prosecution system, in which the government subpoenas individual call data records,” Ruppersberger told the House committee hearing.
this too is an invasion of privacy. they can subpoena for ANY baseless reason.
they are having the same 'abusers' continue using a system that can/has/done record and/or listen to ANYONE they please. these subpoenas can be obtained in the blink of an eye based on 'assumptions'. they didn't go far enough!!!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Security is the excuse, not the reason. Remember John Miller on CBS, stumbling all over himself when asked why the government dropped surveillance on the Tsarnaev Brothers, a credible threat? BTW, when you spy on the entire country, you amass so much data it becomes unusable, and that is a fact. I shouldn't say unusable, because it can be used against individuals for other purposes, mostly political and financial. Edward Snowden told us about this criminality. The president didn't know about any of this anyhow, according to the NSA, because nobody tells him anything, and the reactions of Europe are something to be dismissed, according to the NSA. Evidently they will tell us what we have a right to be upset about.
Americans...and those abroad are still being spied on.....'legally AND illegally'.
Not to mention....banks still monitor our every purchase via debit/credit cards. All private health care issues are now being stored in a government data base. Where you travel is being monitored via satellite. Cell phone calls are stored. Your internet activity is also being stored.
And if anyone thinks differently....I got a bridge to nowhere to sell ya.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I believe that facilitation of government spying is one reason they are trying to force the postal service out of business. If people don't use it as much as they used to, we also have more people than we did then, and it should require fewer workers and trucks to get the job done, right? Yet the government is trying to rid itself of that mandated responsibility. If you can't get a check in the mail, cash it, and then spend it as you see fit, the government has total control of your money. I believe that taking away large denomination bills at the same time we have inflation and things cost more, done under the ruse of "the war on drugs", is just to discouraging using cash, which makes you more vulnerable to being ripped off by banks and credit card companies, as well as giving the government total access to everything you do financially. Think about it. I was watching an old episode of Perry Mason. Those people had bills in denominations we would blanch at today. A hundred dollar bill doesn't even pay for a week's groceries anymore, yet it is the largest bill we are 'allowed', who did that help?
cash for smokes, beer, food, furniture, repairs, hair cut ........... EVERYTHING is cash!!!
Bought a car.....took out a loan because I HAD to.....paid it off in 2 months with CASH!!!
CASH IS STILL KING.....the more folks use it....the sooner this corrupt banking system will collapse.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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