Senators Push to Preserve N.S.A. Phone Survelliance

Senators Push to Preserve N.S.A. Phone Surveillance


By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: September 26, 2013

WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee appears to be moving toward swift passage of a bill that would “change but preserve” the once-secret National Security Agency program that is keeping logs of every American’s phone calls, Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who leads the panel, said Thursday.
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Ms. Feinstein, speaking at a rare public hearing of the committee, said she and the top Republican on the panel, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, are drafting a bill that would be marked up — meaning that lawmakers could propose amendments to it before voting it out of committee — as early as next week.

After the existence of the program became public by leaks from the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, critics called for it to be dismantled. Ms. Feinstein said her bill would be aimed at increasing public confidence in the program, which she said she believed was lawful.

The measure would require public reports of how often the N.S.A. had used the calling log database, she said. It would also reduce the number of years — currently five — that the domestic calling log data is kept before it is deleted. It would also require the N.S.A. to send lists of the phone numbers it searches, and its rationale for doing so, to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for review.

By contrast, a rival bill drafted by skeptics of government surveillance, including two members of the committee, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, would ban the mass call log collection program.

That more extensive step is unlikely to pass the committee. Ms. Feinstein contended that “a majority of the committee” believed that the call log program was “necessary for our nation’s security.”

Ms. Feinstein said her bill with Mr. Chambliss would also require Senate confirmation of the N.S.A.’s director. At the same time, it would expand the N.S.A.’s powers to wiretap without warrants in the United States in one respect: when it is eavesdropping on a foreigner’s cellphone, and that person travels to the United States, the N.S.A. would be allowed to keep wiretapping for up to a week while it seeks court permission.

That step would remove the largest number of incidents in which the N.S.A. has deemed itself to have broken rules about surveillance in the United States. Those incidents were identified in a May 2012 audit leaked by Mr. Snowden.

The rival proposals pushed by Mr. Wyden and Mr. Udall would also ban the N.S.A. from warrantless searches of Americans’ information in the vast databases of communications it collects by targeting noncitizens abroad. And it would prohibit, when terrorism is not suspected, systematic searches of the contents of Americans’ international e-mails and text messages that are “about” a target rather than to or from that person.

Still, most of the senators on the Intelligence Committee, which had received briefings about the call log program and other surveillance even before Mr. Snowden’s leaks, used the hearing on Thursday to largely defend the programs and criticize the disclosures.

Mr. Chambliss suggested that people could die because of Mr. Snowden’s disclosures, and he pressed Gen. Keith Alexander, the N.S.A. director, to describe the program’s value.

“In my opinion,” General Alexander said, “if we had had that prior to 9/11, we would have known about the plot.”

Officials have struggled to identify terrorist attacks that would have been prevented by the call log program, which has existed in its current form since 2006. The clearest breakthrough attributed to the program was a case involving several San Diego men who were prosecuted for donating several thousand dollars to a terrorist group in Somalia.

Mr. Wyden pressed General Alexander about whether the N.S.A. had ever collected, or made plans to collect, bulk records about Americans’ locations based on cellphone tower data.

General Alexander replied that the N.S.A. is not doing so as part of the call log program, but that information pertinent to Mr. Wyden’s question was classified.



Security

National

A potential policy that is being considered to help a problem/issue that individuals/families face

I believe this potential bill is of importance because it has to do with one of the most important things: security. This bill could potential help prevent tragedies happening in America in a very structured way.


I agree strongly with Ms. Feinstein in regards to the statement about the call log program being necessary for our nation’s security. I like a lot of her proposals regarding this bill. A lot of her proposals to be included in the bill have a lot to do with restrictions and security precautions when it comes to actually accessing and using these call logs. This will help regulate and secure this delicate information. I also agree with General Alexander’s statement about if we had this system before the 9/11 attacks that we could have possibly prevented or caught on to the plot through these call logs and wiretapping. This brings about the fact of possible future attacks that our country could face. Some of Feinstein’s proposals are looking to expand wiretapping into foreigner’s cell phones. This could have a huge impact on what I spoke about above when it comes to terrorist attacks. If we use this system the correct way and not abuse it I believe that it could save lives in the future. Although, the clearest breakthrough that we have experienced so far was the San Diego case that they spoke about, I still feel that there is room for progress and improvement in the program to help monitor and secure our country in the future. I believe that Feinstein has this mindset, and is working to better the program and be sure that it is used and not abused. Some of these restrictions are also helping to remove the largest number of incidents which the N.S.A. have already broken when it comes to surveillance issues.