Patrick Leahy backs sweeping NSA restrictions
Source: Politico
Patrick Leahy backs sweeping NSA restrictions
By: Tony Romm
September 24, 2013 11:23 AM EDT
Sen. Patrick Leahy, the powerful chairman of the chambers Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday strongly endorsed a series of sweeping restrictions on U.S. surveillance programs from ending the bulk collection of Americans phone call logs to creating new oversight mechanisms to keep the National Security Agency in check.
In a speech at Georgetown University Law Center, the Vermont Democrat said the government has not made its case that the ability to collect Americans phone records en masse under the PATRIOT Act is an effective counterterrorism tool, especially in light of the intrusion on Americans privacy rights.
As the senator criticized the program, authorized under Section 215, he also pledged to explore possible structural changes to the secret court that reviews government surveillance requests. And Leahy said he planned to work with his Republican colleagues in the House to rein in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs the NSAs ability to tap Internet communications as it scours for foreign terror suspects.
Leahys speech Tuesday marks his committees return to the thorny, complex surveillance debate, sparked by contractor Edward Snowden. Even as Snowdens leaks continued to make headlines, lawmakers disengaged as they turned their attention to Syria and the debt ceiling.
Read more: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=B2006704-29F7-44EF-BC2B-B5FBCCBC3367
ForgoTheConsequence
(4,868 posts)The government has made it's case, doesn't he read this website?
dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)Edited to add: my bad, I think you just forgot the sarcasm tag
ForgoTheConsequence
(4,868 posts)If Leahy posted here he would be called an anarchist and would be accused of treason.
dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)I'm still in shock over the incivility shown to Rep. Grayson when he posted sometime back, make my stomach turn.
wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)for bringing these issues to the forefront.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)2banon
(7,321 posts)Give this post more exposure..
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)It's expensive, brings little and invades our privacy. It violates the most basic of our human rights.
Uncle Joe
(58,362 posts)Thanks for the thread, kpete.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Hopefully something will come of this
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)Well it's about time.
Thank you Senator Leahy.
K&R
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)We can't talk about the NSA right now. Maybe next decade.
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)Leahy (D-VT) scuttles his warrantless e-mail surveillance bill
Source: C/NET
After public criticism of proposal that lets government agencies warrantlessly access Americans' e-mail, Sen. Patrick Leahy says he will "not support" such an idea at next week's vote.
by Declan McCullagh
Sen. Patrick Leahy has abandoned his controversial proposal that would grant government agencies more surveillance power -- including warrantless access to Americans' e-mail accounts -- than they possess under current law.
The Vermont Democrat said today on Twitter that he would "not support such an exception" for warrantless access. The remarks came a few hours after a CNET article was published this morning that disclosed the existence of the measure.
A vote on the proposal in the Senate Judiciary committee, which Leahy chairs, is scheduled for next Thursday. The amendments were due to be glued onto a substitute (PDF) to H.R. 2471, which the House of Representatives already has approved.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57552687-38/leahy-scuttles-his-warrantless-e-mail-surveillance-bill/