WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has voted to pass an amended version of the USA Freedom Act out of the Intel Committee.
The amended version of the USA Freedom Act unanimously passed the House Judiciary Committee before unanimously passing the Intelligence Committee.
“Our government has a responsibility to protect people”s civil liberties and our national security, and this amended legislation does both,” Thompson said. “I look forward to working to pass this bill into law.”
Like the bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform legislation co-authored by Thompson, the amended version of the USA Freedom Act, authored by Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin), ends the bulk collection of call detail records.
In order to access the data, which is already held by the telecom companies, the government must show there is a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the call detail records sought are “relevant to an authorized investigation,” and “protect against international terrorism.” The act requires pre-judicial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) review of each individually-targeted call detail record, according to Thompson”s Senior Advisor Austin Vevurka.
An amendment offered by Sensenbrenner during the Judiciary Committee”s review of the legislation permits the attorney general to authorize the emergency production of call detail records if an application is presented to the FISC within seven days. If the FISC denies the application, the government cannot use the results of the production in any proceeding before a court, agency, legislative committee or any other government entity except in instances of threats of death or serious bodily harm, Vevurka stated.
Also included in the legislation is Thompson”s bipartisan Intelligence Oversight and Accountability Act of 2013.
The USA Freedom Act will go to the House floor for consideration.
