House Judiciary Committee: NSA powers must be changed

Members of both parties warned the Obama Administration it must significantly change National Security Agency surveillance programs or Congress will not approve a controversial law the White House has used to justify them.

Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee said Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which is set to expire next summer, will be dissolved unless the Administration proposes broad changes to the NSA’s collection of people’s phone records. Rep James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who wrote the Patriot Act and its two reauthorizations, told Deputy Attorney General James Cole that the Administration was on the hook to propose a workable alternative. “Section 215 expires in June of next year,” Rep Sensenbrenner said. “Unless Section 215 is fixed, you, Mr. Cole, and the intelligence community will end up getting nothing because I am absolutely confident that there are not the votes in this Congress to reauthorize 215.” He added that the extent of the government’s surveillance programs was a “shock” to him. Rep Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) told Deputy Attorney General Cole that the department had “better come in with very specific recommendations” or else risk losing the entirety of the program. Rep John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the panel, said the administration risked losing all of Section 215. He said the panel needs recommendations from the administration in order to act. “Unless this committee acts and acts soon, I fear we will lose valuable counterterrorism tools along with the surveillance programs many of us find objectionable,” he said.