Sen. John D. Rockefeller Iv Holds a Hearing On the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Modernization Act of 2007

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Sen. John D. Rockefeller Iv Holds a Hearing On the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Modernization Act of 2007

U.S. SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE HOLDS A HEARING ON THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2007

MAY 1, 2007

SPEAKERS: SEN. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, D-W.VA. CHAIRMAN SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, D-CALIF. SEN. RON WYDEN, D-ORE. SEN. EVAN BAYH, D-IND. SEN. BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, D-MD. SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD, D-WIS. SEN. BILL NELSON, D-FLA. SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, D-R.I. SEN. HARRY REID, D-NEV. EX OFFICIO SEN. CARL LEVIN, D-MICH. EX OFFICIO

SEN. CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, R-MO. VICE CHAIRMAN SEN. JOHN W. WARNER, R-VA. SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, R-NEB. SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, R-GA. SEN. ORRIN G. HATCH, R-UTAH SEN. OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, R-MAINE SEN. RICHARD M. BURR, R-N.C. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY. EX OFFICIO SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ. EX OFFICIO

WITNESSES: DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE MIKE MCCONNELL

LIEUTENANT GENERAL KEITH ALEXANDER (USA), DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY

KENNETH WAINSTEIN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, NATIONAL SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[*] ROCKEFELLER: This hearing is begun.

And I welcome all of our testifiers. And other members of the committee will be coming in. I know some of the caucuses just broke up.

The Select Committee on Intelligence meets today in open session -- something we don't often do -- to consider whether the scope and application of the Foreign Surveillance Act needs to be changed to reflect evolving needs for the timely collection of foreign intelligence.

Extraordinarily complicated subject, this is.

At the committee's request, the administration has undertaken a comprehensive review of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, commonly referred to as FISA.

Out of this review, the administration proposed -- it believes -- would modernize the laws governing the way in which we gather foreign intelligence through the use of electronic surveillance. Our consideration of the administration's proposal and alternatives will be rooted in the Intelligence Committee's 30-year experience with our nation's long and delicate effort to strike that elusive right balance between effective intelligence collection for national security, and the constitutional rights and privacy interests of Americans.

The Intelligence Committee's existence came out of the work of the Church committee and others in the mid-70s to bring to light abuses in the electronic surveillance of Americans.

One of the committee's first tasks was to work with the Senate Judiciary Committee and with the Ford and Carter administrations from 1976 to 1978 to enact the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As we take a fresh look at the current law, we will again be working with our colleagues in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

FISA involves both the judicial process, on the one hand, and the collection of intelligence. Our committee's contribution to this process will be our ability to assess the relationship between the public realm of legislative reforms and the classified realm of intelligence collection.

By necessity, much of the committee's assessment must occur in a classified setting. Yet while most of what we do, in contrast to the Judiciary Committee, will occur in closed session, I believe it is important to hold our hearing today in open session.

The purpose of today's hearing is to enable the administration to explain to the Senate and to the American people, as openly as possible, the reasons why public law on these vital matters should be changed.

ROCKEFELLER: I would like to make a few observations about the administration's legislative proposal before us.

One part of the administration's bill proposes to terminate controversies now in litigation in various courts arising from the warrantless surveillance program that the president has labeled the terrorist surveillance program. It would bar any lawsuit against any person for the alleged provision to any element of the intelligence community's information or assistance for any alleged communications intelligence activity.

Under the administration's proposal, this immunity provision would be limited to alleged assistance from September 11th, 2001, to 90 days after enactment of any change in the law, were there to be one.

We will carefully examine this immunity process and proposal and possible alternatives to it. It is not without controversy, as we will all sections of the administration bill.

But I do believe that the administration is going to have to do its part, too. The vice chairman and I have ...

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