Improving Foreign Inteligence Surveillance To Defend The Nation And The Constitution Act Of 2007

Floor Speech

IMPROVING FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE TO DEFEND THE NATION AND THE CONSTITUTION ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - August 03, 2007)

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Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, we are debating critical legislation that would update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This law must be updated to allow American agencies to listen to foreigners in foreign countries without a warrant. Like many of my colleagues, I believe that this is crucial to our national security. We must remain on the offense, and updating FISA will help us prevent future terrorist attacks.

Just yesterday, the Director of National Intelligence issued a statement urging Congress to make changes to FISA so we may protect American families. He said, "We must urgently close the gap in our current ability to effectively collect foreign intelligence. The current FISA law does not allow us to be effective. Modernizing this law is essential for the intelligence community to be able to provide warning of threats to the country.''

Congress must act immediately to ensure that our intelligence community can do their job successfully. They should not be forced to obtain court orders that hinder them from learning of terrorist threats. We must ensure that those who help our Government and report suspicious activity are protected. I urge my colleagues to act now and help keep your constituents and our country safe from impending terrorist attacks.

I have said many times on the floor of the House of Representatives that I have not forgotten September 11th. I urge my colleagues to act now to protect American families. We must face our enemies overseas so we do not have to face them here at home. Let's enact commonsense real reform that gives our intelligence officers the tools they need to effectively protect us

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