New House Intelligence chief viewed NSA reform as unnecessary

Rep Devin Nunes (R-CA), the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, believes the National Security Agency reforms the House passed earlier in 2014 were largely unnecessary.

He was selected to lead the committee in the next Congress with the retirement of current-Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI). Rep Nunes voted in favor of the House version of the USA Freedom Act in May, along with Chairman Rogers and most other Republicans. The legislation, however, lost support from a number of technology groups, outside advocates and Democrats when a compromised version hit the House floor. Rep Nunes previously said the House legislation was largely unnecessary but "should address all the concerns raised by press coverage of the Snowden leaks," according to an op-ed he wrote in the National Review in July. "For the last year, various groups have sought to curtail our intelligence activities based on selectively presented, maliciously leaked documents about anti-terror programs that are widely misunderstood and whose effects have been wildly exaggerated," he wrote in the op-ed.