Bipartisan bill bans warrantless wiretapping of US citizens

By Michael Roston
Raw Story
May. 13, 2007

Members of Congress from both parties succeeded on Friday in passing legislation that restricts the wiretapping of US citizens by the National Security Agency without warrants.

"When Congress said the Administration must get court approval for domestic surveillance, we meant it. Today, Congress reaffirmed that basic protection," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who co-sponsored legislation included in the intelligence authorization bill that Congress passed.

Schiff, with Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), sponsored the NSA Oversight Act in January to "retain court supervision over domestic electronic surveillance," according to a release the two Congressmembers sent to RAW STORY.

They further explained that their bill "reiterates that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) continues to be the exclusive means by which domestic electronic surveillance for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence information may be conducted. The amendment also makes clear that only an explicit change in the law can provide an exception to FISA."

Flake emphasized that the FISA process needed to be respected.

"Many of us in Congress have tried to update and improve FISA," said Flake. "However, until we codify those changes into law, FISA must be respected."

In February, RAW STORY reported on Schiff's concern that the intelligence community had gone too far in its spying activities during the Bush administration. Schiff had suggested that a process comparable to the Church Committee, which uncovered abuses of power by the Nixon administration and earlier presidencies, might need to be be constituted by the current Congress.

Schiff and Flake noted in their release that last year they failed to advance a measure on a close vote which would have "cut funding to any program that conducted domestic surveillance outside of FISA." However, it was not clear at press time whether the two representatives would sponsor this measure again.