Blunt wants intelligence gaps closed

Blunt wants intelligence gaps closed

A House Republican leader is throwing his support behind a bill that would allow warrant-less wiretapping of foreign terror suspects.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) is backing H.R. 3138, a measure introduced by Heather Wilson (R-New Mexico). The bill is designed to update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and strengthen the ability of U.S. intelligence operatives to listen in on foreign terrorists.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has urged Congress to fix FISA because it requires judicial authorization to collect information on foreign terror suspects. Blunt agrees with McConnell and says not only does the current law tie the hands of the U.S. intelligence operatives, but it also is outdated.

"We've got a real opportunity, if we pass the right kind of clarifying language, in foreign surveillance to really monitor the communications that our enemies have with each other in foreign countries," says Blunt. "The technology has outlived the law. All we need to do is say that you can trace any communication in any way you can trace it -- phone, email, any other way -- if it involves a foreign terrorist in a foreign country," the Republican lawmaker adds.

In a press release, Congressman Peter Hoekstra (R-Michigan) also claims that the terrorists are using the outdated 1978 FISA law, originally written for rotary phones and the Cold War, to shield their activities. Hoekstra warns that al-Qaeda is not taking an August recess, and that Congress needs to pass this bill before their August recess.

Democrats largely oppose revising FISA, arguing it would violate civil liberties and privacy rights. They also accuse President Bush of widely abusing his surveillance powers.

Blunt responds to Democrats' criticism of the bill by saying that "getting documents to monitor what a citizen in this country is doing, or someone in this country's doing, is one thing. [But] having to get documents to try to monitor the email between two terrorists in Baghdad because the server they use may go through the United States is foolish."

H.R. 3138 currently has 30 sponsors and is sitting in committee.