Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Reps. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) and John Conyers (D-MI) took to the Washington Post today to accuse President Bush of resorting “to scare tactics and political games” designed to divide Democrats. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the President was placing politics above our nation’s security he would not have agreed to many of the Democratic amendments that helped the Protect America Act in strong 68-29 bipartisan passage in the Senate. It is trial lawyers and anti-Bush activists that are placing …
As lawmakers in Congress wrap up their week-long vacation, America’s intelligence agencies are beginning to suffer the consequences of Congress’ inaction on the Protect America Act. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and Attorney General Michael Mukasey confirmed today that the failure to renew the terrorist surveillance law has caused damage that is no longer “speculative or theoretical.” In a six-page letter to House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), McConnell and Mukasey urged Congress to update FISA by permanently enacting the Protect America Act. The temporary law expired Feb. 16. …
This morning we admonished the House for using its time to pass meaningless contempt citations instead of debating essential FISA revisions that are set to expire at midnight Saturday. Now it turns out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi adjourned Congress early to rush home for her daughter’s wedding. The Heritage Foundation highly values the institution of marriage, but when you are third in line for the presidency, your priorities really ought to lie with doing your public duty “to provide for the common defense.” This is why the House has …
Writing to President Bush regarding vital reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), House Intelligence Committee Chair Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.) noted that the Preamble to our Constitution states that one of the highest duties of public officials is to “provide for the common defense.” Reyes goes on to claim that he works “everyday to ensure that our defense and intelligence capabilities remain strong” and demands that the House be given more time to debate the telecommunication company protections passed by an overwhelming bipartisan margin in the Senate. Reyes fails …
In the wake of 9/11, our antiquated laws on enemy combatant detention and foreign surveillance were exposed. Designed to regulate state-on-state action, our laws did not adequately address the detention of the enemy during wartime. Not until the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 did Congress adequately fill in the gaps in our detainee treatment law. Similarly, on 9/11 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was hopelessly out of date and technical violations of it were required in order for our intelligence agencies to adequately track foreign-to-foreign communications that passed through U.S. …
The first duty of our government is to defend the country. The United States is currently locked in a Long War with non-state actors who desperately want to kill our civilians. The collection of foreign intelligence is perhaps our best weapon against these groups. On Aug. 5, 2007, Congress passed temporary reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) that even the most partisan on the left admit are necessary to defend America. It has now been been 192 days since the House first knew they needed to pass a …
The clock is ticking. Congress has less than a week to pass legislation to extend the important intelligence surveillance authorities of the Protect America Act before they expire. President Bush declared “the time to act is now.” That was a reasonable request given that we know that terrorists are out their plotting to kill us and intelligence collection and surveillance have helped us stop them. By our count, at least 19 “publicly” known terrorist conspiracies have been thwarted. Doubtless classified operations have stopped others as well. That said, it is …
