Representative Heather Wilson: “there are two technical reasons to oppose this motion to recommit, and I do not think that the authors of the motion to…”

“there are two technical reasons to oppose this motion to recommit, and I do not think that the authors of the motion to recommit were entirely aware of what they would do, but I think the House needs to understand it. First, in the motion to recommit, there is no change to the definition of electronic surveillance. That means it is not technology neutral, and we would continue to have the odd situation when al Qaeda calls in to the United States over a radio we could intercept that communication completely outside of FISA, but if they call in on a wire, we still could not listen. This is why we need to update the Electronic Surveillance Act, as the base bill does. And, secondly, the exclusivity provision written into the motion to recommit says that the only way to collect foreign intelligence in the United States is through FISA. That is not current law. Under current law, under title XVIII, foreign intelligence information collected through criminal proceedings can be shared with the intelligence community. What this motion to recommit effectively does is rebuild the walls we have torn down between law enforcement and foreign intelligence.”