Tim Walz clarifies vote on FISA
Wiretapping law is imperfect but necessary
by Tim Walz, from the Rochester Post-Bulletin
On Saturday, Aug. 4, I cast one of the most difficult votes of my tenure in Congress, supporting legislation that makes temporary changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).
Almost three decades ago, the original law set up a special FISA court to review Executive Branch requests to conduct surveillance on targets within the United States. It wasn't charged with monitoring surveillance of foreign targets. FISA attempted -- sometimes unsuccessfully -- to strike a delicate balance, protecting Americans' civil liberties while allowing intelligence officials to gather information.
The basic tension between security and civil liberties has been constant over the past 29 years, but the threats have evolved and changed during that time, and so has the technology involved in the interception of this information. By tradition, the FISA court reviews all communications that physically move through U.S. infrastructure. But today, much of the communication taking place in the world travels through fiber optic communication channels that exist in the United States -- even when the parties communicating are outside our country.
(The rest is here.)
by Tim Walz, from the Rochester Post-Bulletin
On Saturday, Aug. 4, I cast one of the most difficult votes of my tenure in Congress, supporting legislation that makes temporary changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).
Almost three decades ago, the original law set up a special FISA court to review Executive Branch requests to conduct surveillance on targets within the United States. It wasn't charged with monitoring surveillance of foreign targets. FISA attempted -- sometimes unsuccessfully -- to strike a delicate balance, protecting Americans' civil liberties while allowing intelligence officials to gather information.
The basic tension between security and civil liberties has been constant over the past 29 years, but the threats have evolved and changed during that time, and so has the technology involved in the interception of this information. By tradition, the FISA court reviews all communications that physically move through U.S. infrastructure. But today, much of the communication taking place in the world travels through fiber optic communication channels that exist in the United States -- even when the parties communicating are outside our country.
(The rest is here.)
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