Kirk Watson: “Washington Republicans are throwing the facts out the window and are trying to scare the American public into believing…”

“Washington Republicans are throwing the facts out the window and are trying to scare the American public into believing that our Nation is less safe today than it was under the administration's supposed Protect America Act. The Bush administration was wrong when it said the intelligence community would go dark, outrageous, when the act expired earlier this month. Kenneth Wainstein, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said that even after the President's law expired, "intelligence officials would still be able to continue eavesdropping on already-approved targets for another year." And Kate Martin, the Director of the Center for National Security Studies, said our government could immediately listen in on any new individual plotting a terrorist attack without a court order under existing FISA emergency authority. Clearly, our intelligence community is not going dark. And I would hope that congressional Republicans would stop this scare tactic.”