Saxby Chambliss: “I rise today in support of cloture on S. 2248, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, or FISA Amendments…”

“I rise today in support of cloture on S. 2248, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, or FISA Amendments Act. Time is running out on congressional action to fix FISA. The Protect America Act, which Congress passed in August to close gaps in our foreign intelligence collection, expires this Friday, February 1, 2008. Prior to congressional action in August, our intelligence community was unable to collect vital foreign intelligence without the prior approval of a court. And I emphasize in that 'foreign' intelligence. This will be the case again if we do not make permanent these changes. Before August, if our intelligence community wanted to direct surveillance at an al-Qaida member located in Pakistan who was communicating with an operative terrorist in Germany, they would have to first petition the FISA Court for approval. In August of this year, our intelligence community told us that without updating FISA, they were not just handicapped, but they were hamstrung. The Protect America Act temporarily fixed the intelligence community legal gaps.”