Patriot ActPrivacy concerns potentially an obstacle to 1 June Patriot Act reauthorization
With the USA Patriot Act set to expire on 1 June, lawmakers are debating whether the bill, which allows the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect bulk metadata of U.S. phone records, should be extended. The act was last renewed in 2011, before former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed details of the U.S. intelligence agency’s surveillance activities. The debate around the reauthorization of the Patriot Act focuses on Section 215 of the law, used by the NSA to mass collect phone records in an effort to locate terrorists who might be calling supporters in the United States.
With the USA Patriot Act set to expire on 1 June, lawmakers are debating whether the bill, which allows the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect bulk metadata of U.S. phone records, should be extended. The act was last renewed in 2011, before former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed details of the U.S. intelligence agency’s surveillance activities.
The debate around the reauthorization of the Patriot Act focuses on Section 215 of the law, used by the NSA to mass collect phone records in an effort to locate terrorists who might be calling supporters in the United States.
NSA officials say the bulk phone data collection program is useful and are reluctant to do without it, but civil libertarians have called the program a violation of privacy. In 2014 Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) sued the Obama administration over the NSA’s surveillance activities targeting U.S. citizens. “I’m opposed to the Patriot Act and will vote no,” Paul recently said.
Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C. said the 1 June deadline will force a healthy debate about the future of spying. “There’s going to be a significant amount of opposition from both the public and members of Congress to just cleanly reauthorizing the provisions,” she said. “That creates an impetus to really think about this problem.”
The Baltimore Sun reports that the bulk data collection has been challenged in court. One federal judge in Washington, D.C. called the program likely unconstitutional, while two other courts have declined to put a stop to it. The three cases are currently before appeals court and are not expected to be decided on before the program expires on 1 June.
NSA officials say agents do not listen in on phone conversations, but privacy advocates are concerned that bulk metadata gathered by the agency can reveal the numbers dialed, and the time and length of phone calls. Still, the NSA points out that congressional committees and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court have provided adequate oversight.
Some lawmakers are considering allowing phone companies to store the metadata and make it available to the NSA when needed. “I believe there is bipartisan support for a bill that keeps telephone metadata in the hands of the telephone companies and has the government only query the data on a case-by-case basis, pursuant to court approval,” said Representative Adam Schiff (D-California), the senior Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. House Judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte, (R-Virginia) said he will push to curb Section 215 of the Patriot Act. “I am committed to reforming the bulk collection program … so that we protect Americans’ civil liberties while ensuring that the traditional capabilities of our intelligence-gathering programs are not disturbed,” Goodlatte said.
Other lawmakers, including Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), say rolling back Section 215 would leave the country less able to detect terrorists attacks on U.S. soil. “God forbid, tomorrow morning we wake up to the news that a member of ISIL is in the United States and federal agencies need to determine who this person is coordinating with to carry out a potential attack within the homeland,” said Rubio.
