Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8) Monday announced the creation of legislation that would reform the National Security Agencies (NSA) surveillance practices and defund the agency if laws are broken.
Coming on the heels of a Washington Post report that the NSA had intentional and unintentional privacy breaches where Americans were spied on by the intelligence gathering agency, Fitzpatrick said, “what is most disturbing about these reports is that the NSA made a decision to hide the truth from Congress that Americans were spied on. Whether human or technical error these instances should have been disclosed…its impossible to reach to any other conclusion than it was an intentional cover up. ”
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According to the report, there were about 3,000 instances from April of 2011 until March of 2012 where privacy of citizens had been violated.
The NSA Accountability Act of 2013 sets out to clarify language in the Patriot Act, section 215 by strengthening strategies the government can implement to collect personal records, limiting information collecting to Americans who are suspected of breaking the law/ If those laws are broken, the measure says, then the defunding of the NSA should take place.
“We’re at a crossroads,” Fitzpatrick said during Monday’s press conference to announce the measure. “We have to strike a balance between American’s constitutional liberty and the right to privacy.”
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Talking about his unconformability with the specific section of the Patriot Act and ongoing discussions with members of Congress, Fitzpatrick said he was “disturbed” by the report and cited recent conversations with constituents who fear invasion of their “constitutional rights” by the NSA and its programs.
“These revelations further call into question the soundness of the Patriot Act,” he said, citing his lack of support for specific stipulations in the 2005 and 2011 versions of the law.
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He also voted in July to stop the program supporting the Amash-Convers Amendment to the 2014 Department of Defense appropriations Bill, which failed to pass.
“This bill is a good step in assuring the American people that somebody is watching over the NSA and will hold them accountable,” continued Fitzpatrick. “We must ensure the program is operating under rules that respect the privacy of law-abiding Americans, while at the same time providing law enforcement the information they need to keep us safe.”
