Political Quotes

“I thank my colleagues, especially Senator Rockefeller, and all those who worked with us. We have had to make a number of very tough votes. We made some good changes in the bill. I thank, particularly, Senators Wyden, Feinstein, and Whitehouse for working with us to achieve their objectives in a way that would allow the program to continue. Approximately 10 months ago, the DNI, Admiral McConnell, came to Congress and asked that we update FISA. Changes in technology had resulted in the FISA Court rulings or interpretations that impeded the effective use of electronic surveillance against terrorists overseas. This problem came to a head in May 2007, when there was a FISA Court ruling causing significant gaps in our intelligence collection against foreign terrorists. Throughout the summer of 2007 and amid growing concern of increased threats to our security in light of these gaps, Congress was asked by the DNI to act. And Congress, in August, passed the Protect America Act, a short-term fix that did what it was supposed to do. It was lacking in one important aspect; it did not provide civil liability protection to those private partners who assisted the intelligence community.”