William F. Smith: “Madam Speaker, our most solemn duty in the United States Congress is to protect the American people; and while this bill…”

“Madam Speaker, our most solemn duty in the United States Congress is to protect the American people; and while this bill may be well intentioned, it fails to do that. In fact, just the opposite. It puts the American people in great danger. Before running for Congress, I worked in the Justice Department. I worked on national security, wiretaps or FISAs. The intention of the FISA Act was never to apply to agents of a foreign power in a foreign country. It was to apply to agents of a foreign power in this country. This bill does just the opposite. It expands it to bar a collection of foreign intelligence on foreign targets in foreign countries. FISA is a cumbersome and time-consuming process. I am concerned that if we cannot collect intelligence overseas that we cannot protect our war fighter in the battlefield. We put them in danger, and we put the citizens of this country in danger. We all know that al Qaeda is looking at hitting us again. It may be very soon. And with the anniversary of 9/11 approaching, we must do everything we can to protect her.”