Senators Seek More Transparency into NSA Surveillance Programs

The measure was introduced by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, and resembles an amendment Merkley offered during last year’s debate of the FISA Amendments Act. The legislation specifies that if the attorney general determines that a FISC opinion can’t be declassified “without undermining national security interests, then the attorney general can declassify a summary of the opinion,” the news release said. “If the attorney general determines that even a summary of an opinion would undermine national security, the attorney general is required to provide a report to Congress describing the process to be implemented to declassify FISA Court opinions including an estimate of the number of opinions that will be declassified and the number that are expected to be withheld because of national security concerns,” the release said. The legislation was co-sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt.; Dean Heller, R-Nev.; Mark Begich, D-Alaska; Al Franken, D-Minn.; Jon Tester, D-Mont.; and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

The legislation specifies that if the attorney general determines that a FISC opinion can’t be declassified “without undermining national security interests, then the attorney general can declassify a summary of the opinion,” the news release said. “If the attorney general determines that even a summary of an opinion would undermine national security, the attorney general is required to provide a report to Congress describing the process to be implemented to declassify FISA Court opinions including an estimate of the number of opinions that will be declassified and the number that are expected to be withheld because of national security concerns."

Lee told us during an interview at the Capitol the legislation would place a check on the government’s ability to monitor Americans. “The power of government needs to be more limited. Some of this stuff is utterly inconsistent with transparency. It literally can’t exist in the same universe with transparency -- full transparency. We have got to be more careful about when we give power to the government. And when we do give power to the government in a sensitive area, we have got to have something to provide an adequate check and a balance.”

Wyden told reporters he agreed with President Barack Obama that “strong congressional oversight is absolutely essential in this area. It’s not possible for the Congress to do the kind of vigorous oversight that the president spoke about if you can’t get straight answers.” Wyden said it’s “appropriate” to now have public hearings. “It will give the committee and the American people the opportunity to look at the disclosures that have come out in the last 10 days or so and I think that is the appropriate next step.” Wyden said he has “long been concerned about the role of contractors in the intelligence field and that is surely an area that will be explored at considerable length in these public hearings and I'm going to do everything I can to push to make sure that we have those hearings made public.” Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former intelligence contractor for Booz Allen, recently acknowledged that he leaked the FISA court document to the Guardian newspaper.

"Americans deserve to know how much information about their private communications the government believes it’s allowed to take under the law,” Merkley said in a news release. “There is plenty of room to have this debate without compromising our surveillance sources or methods or tipping our hand to our enemies. We can’t have a serious debate about how much surveillance of Americans’ communications should be permitted without ending secret law."

Some members of the upper chamber said there’s no need to consider legislative remedies to strike a greater balance between protecting national security and Americans’ privacy. Senate Intelligence Committee member Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., whose state includes NSA’s headquarters, told us: “I think we have that through the FISA and the Patriot acts.” Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., told us during a separate interview at the Capitol he too felt more transparency was not required: “I think there is the appropriate oversight of the CIA and the NSA programs, so my answer is yes, there is the appropriate oversight under the law.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in an interview at the Capitol he was surprised by the revelations of broad NSA spying on Americans and supported more transparency of the program. “How could this happen? We were all led to believe you have the executive, the judicial, the legislative branch checking everything -- how could this happen? I have briefings … and you leave those briefings and you get the view that they're not picking on Joe Blow or Mary Smith -- they've been talking to terrorists. We need more information. We need to follow that. You don’t think in terms of sweeping up 3 billion phone records every day.” NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander would not comment on the agency’s surveillance programs following a closed briefing Tuesday with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Alexander plans to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee for a cybersecurity hearing Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Dirksen G50, the committee announced Tuesday. Committee Chairwoman Mikulski will “focus on breaking down stovepipes between agencies and departments to ensure the federal government develops the right technologies and capabilities to protect our nation while also protecting civil liberties,” said a news release Tuesday. Mikulski will “also stress the importance of committee-wide and government-wide collaboration when implementing solutions to protect the American people,” the release said. Also scheduled to testify are Department of Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Rand Beers, National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Patrick Gallagher and Executive Assistant Director Richard McFeely of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.

Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D., said in an interview at the Capitol he expects “a lot of discussion” on the matter. “Obviously those of us who supported measures to prevent terrorist attacks and protect Americans believe that we have to use those tools in order to do that. I also think that perhaps there are some ways in which we could have a little more oversight for the public about doing that. I think that these incidents have raised concerns for Americans about how some of those tools are being used and I think it’s fair for their elected representatives to be examining that and making sure it is done in a way that balances national security and individual liberties.” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told us “generally speaking” there should be more transparency of the government’s surveillance efforts and said legislation “is certainly possible,” following the intelligence briefing.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., called for “broader engagement with congressional oversight,” in an interview at the Capitol. “To the extent that we are able to be more open with the American people I would support that, but only if we are not tipping off the bad guys. That’s the balance here -- we can’t tip off the terrorists, so that is the balance that needs to be struck.”