Orrin Hatch: “I have listened very closely to the remarks of my dear friend from Connecticut. I have a lot of respect for him.…”

“I have listened very closely to the remarks of my dear friend from Connecticut. I have a lot of respect for him. However, it was an easy thing for 13 members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to vote to grant retroactive immunity to companies that patriotically adhered to legal letters to provide the means whereby we might be able to protect citizens in this country and perhaps all over the world. Because of that work, we have been able to protect this country in ways that most people will never know because this area is one of the areas that we don't talk about. It is, this whole area, highly classified. We can talk about the law here. Close inspection of the lawsuits against the telecoms reveals dubious claims. The plaintiffs have confused speculation for established facts. This is dangerous and the continuation of these lawsuits could lead to serious consequences for our national security. It is very simple--Congress should not condone oversight through litigation. A quick scan of what plaintiffs seek in many of these cases should send a chill down our spine. They are not, as many are suggesting, simply saying: 'You went along with the President's Terrorist Surveillance Program, now give us money.' Rather, the lawsuits seize on the President's brief comments about the existence of a limited program to go on a fishing expedition of NSA activities.”