Groups Urge Passage of NSA Reform Bill Without Amendment
The Brennan Center, along with 40 civil liberties groups, sent a letter to Senate leadership today urging them to pass the USA FREEDOM Act without delay and without adding data retention requirements.
The Brennan Center, in addition to more than 40 other civil liberties and human rights groups, urged the Senate to pass the USA FREEDOM Act without adding new data retention requirements and without further consideration of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014 (CISA), a bill the groups argue would give the NSA even more access to Americans’ data. “The Senate cannot seriously consider controversial information-sharing legislation such as CISA without first completing the pressing unfinished business of passing meaningful surveillance reform,” the groups said in the letter.
The USA FREEDOM Act, re-introduced by Senator Leahy (D-Vt.) in July, would prohibit indiscriminate bulk collection of records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, strengthen transparency reporting provisions, and improve the accountability of FISA Court (FISC) by creating a special advocate. The bill, however, does not address the warrantless surveillance of phone calls and e-mails under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act.