Norm Coleman on FISA

Letter to Coleen Rowley, former TIME magazine person-of-the-year and congressional candidate, from Sen. Norm Coleman, regarding Congress's recent vote on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Dear Mr. [sic] Rowley :

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding the modernization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

As you may know, the FISA statute was written in 1978 and therefore reflects the technologies that were available for intelligence gathering at that time. Since the statute was passed in 1978, dramatic changes in technology have taken place that have altered the landscape of intelligence gathering. Because technology has made some of the language in the FISA statute obsolete, our intelligence community currently faces unintended constraints on collecting intelligence that unnecessarily undermine our ability to prevent future terrorist attacks. Due to this situation, the FISA statute must be given a very careful and comprehensive review in order to make necessary adjustments that both account for our current technology but also continue to preserve American civil liberties.

As you may know, at the beginning of August the Congress passed a temporary measure to address one of the most problematic aspects of FISA faced by our intelligence community at the moment. The Protect America Act of 2007 (S. 1927), which amends FISA to provide additional procedures for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence inform ation, was passed by the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 60 to 28 on August 3, 2007. President Bush signed S. 1927 into law on August 5, 2007.

S. 1297 partially modernizes FISA to account for the changes in technology that have altered the methods of intelligence collection since the law was written in 1978. The aspect of FISA that this bill addresses pertains only to the ability of our intelligence community to collect intelligence from foreign sources located outside of the U.S. which it is currently constrained from doing. Importantly, the bill provides protections for American citizens - the normal FISA court approval process will still be required for persons who reside in the U.S. The bill also includes oversight mechanisms through Congress and the FISA court to ensure that the procedures being used to gather intelligence from foreign sources outside the U.S. are compliant with U.S. laws protecting Americans.

After careful consideration of the legal and security issues involved, I supported S.1927. Importantly, the legislation will expire after six months, and further debate will then be held on its provisions based on the results thus far. In addition, a broader discussion of an entire overhaul of FISA will also be pursued to address the shortcomings of the 1978 language while maintaining the original purpose of FISA - which is to protect the privacy of American citizens.

I support national intelligence activities undertaken by the federal government which are lawful and necessary for the pursuit of terrorists. I recognize that we need to strike a balance between effectively using all the tools at our disposal to prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil without undermining the very principles on which our nation is based. For this reason I am a strong proponent of Congressional oversight of surveillance activities, as it is an important Constitutional check on the Executive branch's decisions regarding domestic intelligence gathering.

I will continue to follow this important issue. I appreciate hearing from you and hope you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you.

Sincerely,
Norm Coleman
United States Senate