Jan. 11, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Vice President of Public Policy Robert Romano today issued the following statement urging the House to support an amendment by U.S. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), “The USA Rights Act,” an amendment to the FISA reauthorization bill:
“The USA Rights Act will end warrantless mass surveillance of U.S. persons that was revealed by the Edward Snowden disclosures and restore Fourth Amendment protections for the American people. If the USA Rights Act had been law, it would have prohibited most of the abuses that have been observed in the 2016 election campaign with federal surveillance of the opposition party, and then the subsequent use of communications from U.S. persons that were eventually leaked to U.S. media outlets. It would restrict the use of communications to only for national security matters, and those involving U.S. persons would have to clearly be linked to a crime being committed.
“While it is heartening that President Trump is already taking steps to rein in some of these past abuses by national security and law enforcement agencies, the American people should not have to depend on the benevolence of our rulers to protect the Constitution. We are a nation of laws, and these abuses will happen again if they are not clearly prohibited. So far, nobody has been prosecuted for the surveillance abuses that occurred in 2016. The USA Rights Act will help restore the protection of constitutional rights, the rule of law and public confidence in our national security institutions by clearly outlining the permissible parameters for intelligence gathering. This political surveillance must never happen again, and it is Congress’ duty to make sure it never happens again — by voting for the USA Rights Act.”
Attachments:
“Did the NSA chief admit the agency is recording everything?” By Robert Romano, June 13, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/06/did-the-nsa-chief-admit-the-agency-is-recording-everything/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.
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