Monday, May 26, 2014

Congressman Peters Pushes NSA Reforms Forward


NOTE: This was on a 3 day delay (House Rules)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) released the following statement after voting in favor of H.R. 3361, the “USA Freedom Act,” which modifies the authority of the National Security Agency (NSA) by ending its ability to collect and hold telephone metadata and other bulk data:

“Protecting our country is increasingly difficult and finding the right tools for our intelligence community to combat these threats has proved elusive in recent years. This bill is a bipartisan endeavor and is a step in the right direction. It makes significant advances toward protecting the privacy of American citizens by placing real, effective restrictions on government collection of data while putting reasonable burdens on the NSA before they can request information.”

The bill, which passed the House of Representatives 303-121, in addition to ending the NSA’s collection and storage of telephone metadata, requires the agency to get case-by-case approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court before requesting information and data. This proposal codifies the proposal put forth by President Obama earlier this spring and is the result of bipartisan discussions in Congress.

Congressman Peters serves the 52nd District of California which covers much of central San Diego County including Poway, Coronado, and large portions of the City of San Diego.  He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology.  He was named the fourth most independent Democrat by National Journal last year. The Congressman is a former environmental attorney, City Council President, and Port Commission Chairman.

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