According to multiple sources, House Democrats have decided to discontinue the authority of the administration to tap the communications of foreign terrorists operating overseas. They've decided to block a bill with majority support, effectively shutting down much of our intelligence collection on two-thirds of all terrorist communications.
It's important to consider what that means. One way to do that is to look at the legislation the Democrats did endorse, and listen to Democrats describe why it's necessary. Last November 15, this is what Intelligence Committee Chairman Sil Reyes (D-TX) had to say about the Democrats' RESTORE Act:
...we also have the mandate to provide our intelligence professionals the legal authorities required to protect the country from our enemies.
The RESTORE Act... exempts truly foreign-to-foreign communications from any judicial review, even when the communication passes through the United States or the surveillance device is still actually located in the United States. Second, it authorizes the acquisition of foreign intelligence information for all matters of national defense, including information relating to terrorism, espionage, sabotage, and other threats to the national security of our country...
I urge my colleagues to reject partisan politics in favor of sound policy and support this critically important bill.
So according to the Democratic Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, it's 'critically important' to ensure that the intelligence community avoid the time-consuming process of obtaining individual warrants to conduct surveillance of people like Osama bin Laden. But now that's exactly what Democrats will require -- in defiance of the majority of the House and Senate.
More on this from Andrew McCarthy here.
