Julian Bond: “I say to my friend from Virginia, in April of 2007, the DNI submitted his request to modernize FISA to Congress, to our…”

“I say to my friend from Virginia, in April of 2007, the DNI submitted his request to modernize FISA to Congress, to our committee, and it included a request for full liability for all persons, including Government officials who had allegedly participated in the President's Terrorist Surveillance Program. As my colleague has stated, the committee passed this bill by a 13- to-2 bipartisan vote. It included civil liability protection for those providers that allegedly assisted with the TSP. The protection was not extended to Government officials or to criminal prosecution. We did not seal off all potential liability of anyone who may have acted criminally--that would be up to the Department of Justice to determine--or Government officials who are named, I believe, in seven pending lawsuits.”