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FISA redux?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., all but admits today that it was a mistake to give the Bush White House expanded surveillance powers before lawmakers raced out of town earlier this month.
In a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John Rockefeller, D-West Va., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Reid urges the chairmen to quickly pass new legislation this fall that “better serves American national security interests and comports with the Constitution and proper judicial and congressional oversight.”
Cutting to the chase of his letter: the rush to revamp the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was too hurried and overlooked important constitutional considerations. Congressional oversight needed pronto.
“I know both of you share my disappointment at the process that led to passage of the recent law, and at the flawed outcome itself, which you and I and many others strongly opposed,” Reid wrote in the August 14 letter released this morning.
The temporary authorities in the new law will sunset in six months, Reid notes. During that time period, Reid said he would support all efforts by the Senate panels “to conduct vigorous and comprehensive oversight.”
The legislation was fast-tracked because the director of national intelligence expressed concerns about a hole in collecting intelligence about foreign terrorists and a new intelligence report discovered new threats in America.
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