Roll Call reported last week that the Senate Intelligence Committee has tentatively scheduled an intra-committee meeting to discuss draft legislation on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) data collection programs. Senior members of the House and Senate Judiciary panels are also expected to introduce a joint proposal.
Several bills addressing the bulk data collection under sections 215 of the Patriot Act and 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) were announced by both the House and Senate earlier this fall. The substantial fault line between the most recently discussed proposals categorizes them into approaches to prohibit the collection of bulk collection of metadata, including,
- Patriot Act author Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s (R-Wis.) Freedom Act
- Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D-Ore.) Intelligence Oversight and Surveillance Reform Act
and into approaches to keep the programs but regulate them through improved oversight mechanisms, such as,
- Chairman of the Congress’s Intelligence Committees Sen. Diane Feinstein’s (D-Cal.) and Rep. Mike Rogers’ (R-Mich.) forthcoming bill.
As Roll Call headlined, the “Congressional Showdown on NSA Wiretapping” is on the horizon.
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