|
 Lawmakers were close to deadlock over the central question of how
far citizens' privacy rights should be infringed to protect the
country from violent extremists.
Experts also disagreed on how counter-terrorism might be affected if
lawmakers failed to prevent the June 1 expiration of portions of the
USA Patriot Act, which was approved after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks.
The White House backs a reform measure known as the USA Freedom Act,
which the House of Representatives passed on May 13 but has not come
up for a vote in the Senate.
The Freedom Act would replace bulk phone-data collection and other
domestic surveillance practices that are permitted under the Patriot
Act, introducing more targeted procedures. Privacy rights activists
have been clamoring for such reforms since former National Security
Agency contractor Edward Snowden exposed the surveillance program
two years ago.
 Officials from President Barack Obama's Democratic administration
have been lobbying the Republican-controled Congress to support the
Freedom Act, calling it the best way to prevent "a very uncertain
future" for the national security authorities.
Some experts disagreed.
"Our intelligence capabilities against terrorists will take a hit"
if the Freedom Act becomes law, Stewart Baker, former general
counsel at the National Security Agency, told Reuters.
If Congress lets the provisions of the Patriot Act simply expire, it
would mean "a double hit," Baker said. "That would leave terrorism
investigators without tools that drug crime investigators use every
day. That's nuts."
With the House of Representatives adjourned until June 1 for the
Memorial Day recess, the Senate was juggling several decisions.
[to top of second column] |
The picture became more complicated when Senate Intelligence
Committee Chairman Richard Burr said on Thursday he would offer
compromise legislation that would includes parts of the Freedom Act,
give the NSA two years to wrap up the bulk data program and keep in
place other less-controversial pieces of the Patriot Act.
He said he expected votes on Friday in the Senate on the Freedom Act
and a two-month extension of the existing surveillance powers, but
predicted neither would pass. He said he hoped instead for a
days-long extension to allow debate on his compromise.
"I don't think that any member outside of Senator Paul wants to see
the program go away," Burr told reporters, referring to Rand Paul, a
Republican candidate for next year's presidential election, who led
10 hours of speeches on Wednesday opposing the Patriot Act.
Julian Sanchez of the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute played down
the impact of ending the surveillance, saying of the potential
cessation of bulk telephony metadata collection that two independent
reviews had found it to be "of little if any real utility."
(Additional reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh,
Susan Heavey, Andrew Hay and Frances Kerry)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
