Patrick Leahy: “I support providing the Government with the flexibility it needs to conduct important surveillance of overseas targets.…”

“I support providing the Government with the flexibility it needs to conduct important surveillance of overseas targets. Both the Intelligence Committee's and the Judiciary Committee's versions of this bill would allow the Government to intercept all communications of overseas targets, including those communications with people inside of the United States. However, this also means that the Government will necessarily be acquiring the communications of innocent Americans. I commend Senators Feingold, Webb, and Tester for crafting an amendment that will help to safeguard the privacy rights of innocent Americans whose communications are acquired during the surveillance of overseas targets. This new FISA legislation will grant the Government authority to conduct surveillance on overseas targets concerning 'foreign intelligence.' This term covers a broad range of subjects and the new authority would permit the Government great latitude to intercept communications without a court order. Once Americans' communications are collected, they can be shared widely with other agencies. This Feingold-Webb-Tester provision permits unfettered acquisition of foreign-to-foreign communications and of communications of suspected terrorists into or out of the United States while creating safeguards for communications not related to terrorism that the Government knows have one end in the United States.”