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U.S. SENATOR PATRICK
LEAHY
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CONTACT: Office of Senator
Leahy, 202-224-4242 |
VERMONT |
Click here for the full FIF
report
Senators Release Report
On FISA Implementation Failures
And Introduce Sunshine Bill
WASHINGTON (Tues., Feb.
25) – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and
Senator Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) released a report due to systemic problems
revealed by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Congressional oversight on
the FBI and Justice Department’s failure to implement FISA. The same
three senators also introduced a bill to enhance congressional oversight
and public reporting of the FBI’s domestic surveillance efforts.
The report is titled, “FBI Oversight in the 107th
Congress by the Senate Judiciary Committee: FISA Implementation Failures” (FIF
Report). It concludes that the same systemic problems facing the FBI that
were highlighted by Judiciary Committee oversight hearings held during the
107th Congress also effected its ability to fight terrorism both
before and after the attacks of September 11. The report also lauds
congressional oversight of the FBI and Justice Department and outlines
those agencies’ lack of cooperation in congressional efforts to oversee
their performance.
The FIF Report underscores the need for openness and
oversight of the Justice Department and FBI. The bill introduced Tuesday,
the Domestic Surveillance Oversight Act of 2003, adds transparency to the
FISA process, by enhancing congressional and public reporting requirements
in the government’s domestic surveillance activities. It also requires
increased congressional oversight of the FBI efforts to snoop on public,
high schools and university library users. It criticizes the use of
legislative “quick fixes” as a substitute for long term organizational
reform.
“Taken together, the bipartisan report and bill
emphasize the importance of congressional oversight in making sure that the
FBI and Justice Department are working effectively to protect both the
security and the liberty of all Americans,” said Leahy, ranking Democrat on
the Judiciary Committee. “Before we give the government more power to
conduct surveillance on its own citizens, we must look at how it is using
the power that it already has. We must answer two questions: Is that power
being used effectively, so that our citizens not only feel safer,
but are in fact safer? Is that power being used appropriately, so
that our liberties are not sacrificed?”
Among the report’s conclusions relating to FISA are:
- Excessive secrecy in basic legal and procedural
aspects of FISA, which are not classified, have contributed to the
systemic deficiencies in implementation.
- FBI Headquarters did not properly support the
efforts of its field agents in intelligence matters,
- Key FBI agents and officials were inadequately
trained in important aspects of both FISA and basic criminal law,
- Before 9/11, the FBI and DOJ had not devoted
sufficient resources to implementing FISA,
- The FBI did not properly analyze or disseminate
intelligence in its possession,
- The FBI’s information technology was and remains
inadequate,
- A deep-rooted culture of ignoring problems and
discouraging internal dissent causes the FBI to constantly repeat its
past mistakes, and
The sunshine legislation
introduced today would require that:
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Surveillance on public and university
libraries pursuant to administrative subpoenas, or “National Security
Letters,” issued under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
be reported to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees,
- The Attorney General
issue an annual public report on the total number of U.S. persons
targeted for court orders issued under FISA,
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The rules of the FISA Court and
Court of Review be provided to the Senate and House Judiciary and
Intelligence Committees and the Supreme Court,
- A public reporting of
the number of times that information acquired through FISA orders is
authorized for use by the Attorney General in criminal proceedings, and
- The portions of FISA
Court documents that contain legal reasoning be made public, consistent
with the protection of national security, so that the public is informed
of the bases of legal interpretations in FISA implementation.
[In the 107th Congress Leahy and
Grassley introduced the FBI Reform Act, which was reported unanimously out
of the Judiciary Committee but was subjected to an anonymous republican
hold on the Senate floor.]
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