Walberg Op-Ed in Battle Creek Enquirer: "Must Pass FISA Update to Protect National Security"

Op-Ed

Walberg Op-Ed in Battle Creek Enquirer: "Must Pass FISA Update to Protect National Security"

As we enter into April, our nation begins its seventh straight week of being more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Misguided leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives is directly responsible for our country's current state of vulnerability. On Feb. 17, important updates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expired, and House leadership refused to pass a permanent bipartisan FISA update modified to address today's world of instantaneous communication.

Without these updates, our intelligence community is back to using pre-9/11 gathering tools, which is completely unacceptable. Because FISA updates expired, American intelligence officials currently must fill out lengthy, detailed applications before new surveillance of foreign terrorists can begin. This process can take hours, with no guarantees.

American military and intelligence officials need the right tools to protect American citizens from terrorist threats. These officials need to be able to monitor, without delay, communications between suspected and known foreign terrorists in foreign countries. We must not prevent our intelligence community from being able to monitor Osama bin Laden's phone calls.

Congress originally passed FISA during the Cold War era, and the legislation enabled our intelligence community, with appropriate congressional and judicial oversight, to perform surveillance on foreign operatives and protect our national security. However, this was before e-mail, Internet phone calls and satellite phones.

A six-month update of the legislation passed Congress in 2007, and a bipartisan, permanent update of the legislation passed the Senate in a 68-29 vote on Feb. 12. Though every Republican and at least 40-50 House Democrats are ready to support the Senate bill, House leadership refuses to allow it to come up for a vote.

A permanent modernization of this legislation would give the American intelligence community tools and flexibility to respond quickly to terrorist threats. Glenn Sulmasy, a Harvard University national security expert, said updated FISA legislation "has allowed the United States to close a significant intelligence gap by enabling intelligence professionals to collect, without a court order, foreign intelligence on targets located overseas."

House leadership will not support current FISA legislation because the bill would prevent trial lawyers from suing American telecommunications companies who cooperate with American intelligence agencies' monitoring of foreign terrorist communications.

Recent news reports revealed that almost 40 lawsuits are pending against the very telecommunications companies who helped our country in a time of crisis. Gathering intelligence to defend America's national security has never been and should never be a political issue.

It is shameful that some in Washington place the ability of trial lawyers to sue over national security. When American companies assist American intelligence agencies with monitoring foreign terrorist threats, they should be thanked, not sued.

We need the foreign intelligence surveillance law passed so America's intelligence community can monitor al-Qaida and other terrorist networks without getting permission to listen to foreign terrorists plotting on foreign lands.

With a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans ready to pass a permanent FISA update, it is time for House leaders to bring the bill up for a vote.

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