Wednesday, July 9, 2008                                                    Contact: Andrea Wuebker/Laena Fallon

GREGG PRAISES SENATE PASSAGE OF BIPARTISAN FISA LEGISLATION

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WASHINGTON – United States Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) today called Senate passage of the bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) legislation (H.R. 6304) a win for the American people and a long needed measure to restore critical terrorist surveillance activities.   By setting up a court-approved process for electronic surveillance of foreign terrorists, coupled with increased oversight measures, this balanced legislation will ensure that our intelligence community has the tools it needs to help stop those who want to carry out harm against Americans.  It also establishes new civil liberties measures, as well as potential liability protection for telecommunication companies that acted in good faith when helping the government in terrorist surveillance efforts.

Similar surveillance tools were first established as part of last year’s Protect America Act, but they expired on February 15, 2008, due to Congress’s failure to pass reauthorizing legislation. The Senate passed such legislation right before the expiration date, but this measure was stalled for months in negotiations between the House and Senate.  Introduced by Representative Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, was passed overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives last month.  Today, the Senate approved it by a vote of 69 to 28, and the bill now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

Senator Gregg stated, “Unfortunately there’s still a lot of people out there that want to do America and Americans harm, and many of them subscribe to Islamic fundamentalism.  They are foreign terrorists and they have targeted us.  One of the ways to find them and find out what they are doing is to be able to intercept their communications, something we have an advantage in given our advanced technological capabilities.  Thus, I am pleased the Senate has approved the critically important bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation. 

“This bill, which is supported not only by Senator McCain but also by Senator Obama, will give our intelligence community the needed tools to intercept foreign terrorists who are trying to communicate with each other or with people here in the United States.  It will also give adequate protections to Americans who may come under scrutiny as a result of their activities by having prior court approval. It’s a very appropriate piece of legislation, critical in our war on terror. The only way we are going to win, is by gathering intelligence on foreign terrorists and finding out what they are going to do before they attack us.  And thus this bill is absolutely essential to our national defense.