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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 15, 2007
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Contact: Zach Goldberg
202-225-5801 (office) |
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HOUSE PASSES ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE BILL
Holt-sponsored Provisions Help Ensure Americans
Are Protected From Terrorist Attacks and From Illegal Domestic Spying
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(Washington, D.C.) – A majority of the U.S. House of Representatives today passed the RESTORE Act (H.R. 3773), a bill to provide the Intelligence Community with the tools it needs to conduct surveillance of foreign targets outside the United States, while restoring individual rights protections that were not contained in the unconstitutional domestic surveillance law, “Protect America Act”, passed by Congress in August. Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12), chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, led the effort to include provisions that protects the communications of all Americans from illegal searches and seizures.
“The RESTORE Act will ensure that it is the courts—and not an executive branch political appointee—who decides whether or not the communications of an American citizen and be seized and searched, and that such seizures and searches must be done pursuant to a court order,” said Holt. “This bill gives our citizens the best protection we can provide them: good intelligence collection against our adversaries, and review of the executive branch’s actions by a court.”
Among the Holt-authored provisions in the bill:
• Ensures that the government must have an individualized, particularized court-approved warrant based on probable cause in order to read or listen to the communications of an American citizen.
• Requires the Court to review and approve not only the targeting procedures and guidelines required under this Act, but also the application of those guidelines.
• Requires the Bush administration to “fully inform” Congress on all surveillance programs conducted since 9/11.
• Increases the number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) judges from 11 to 15, provides additional personnel to both the FISC and government agencies responsible for making and processing FISA applications, creates an electronic filing, sharing, and document management system for handling this highly classified data, and mandates training for all government personnel involved in the FISA process.
• Clarifies that Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is the sole statutory basis for domestic surveillance.
Holt called on the Senate to quickly pass the RESTORE Act and on the President to end his veto threats and work with Congress to bring America’s surveillance activities into compliance with the Constitution.
“President Bush has no inherent Constitutional authority to spy on our own citizens in the name of national security,” said Holt. “If the President is serious about passing a law that allows us to protect our citizens from all enemies – foreign and domestic – he will sign this bill.”
Background information, including the full text of the RESTORE Act, can be viewed on the Majority Leader’s Website.
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