Lofgren Raises NSA Oversight Concerns at Two Hearings
Media Contact: Kyra Jennings, 202.225.3072, kyra.jennings@mail.house.go
— Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) today raised her concern with the lack of congressional oversight of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) domestic wiretapping of Americans without warrants during hearings of both the House Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees.
As the Ranking Member on the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment, Rep. Lofgren criticized Subcommittee Chairman Rob Simmons for ignoring the “elephant in the room” by not focusing on the NSA program during a hearing on privacy rights.
“We need to do our oversight job and find out what is really going on by calling the witnesses who have direct knowledge of what the government is actually doing,” Rep. Lofgren said. “There is only one Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee and we are it. We cannot get thorough information on this NSA eavesdropping program without a government witness with firsthand knowledge about it. So today is a lost opportunity for this Subcommittee.”
Rep. Lofgren later questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during a Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, asking him to describe the precise standard for conducting surveillance and why it was determined that FISA warrants were not needed.
“I am seeking to understand exactly what NSA and the Bush Administration has done, why they have done it, and I think a good outcome would be to regularize this program in a way that preserves the rule of law,” Rep. Lofgren said. “If I’m hearing you correctly, you are saying that the administration has decided not to comply with FISA as an alternative to streamlining the FISA processes.”
During the second round of questioning, Rep. Lofgren questioned the Attorney General’s classification of the PATRIOT Act as a general crime statute instead of a law focused on the war on terror, pointing out that during the drafting of the PATRIOT Act, Judiciary Committee members were told repeatedly that the law would be essential in fighting the war on terror. Rep. Lofgren also questioned the Attorney General’s definition of presidential war powers.
“You assert that whatever is incident to conducting war, the President can do under his war powers authority without regard to statute. Shooting people, capturing them in their homes or on the street, putting them into POW camps, would all of those things be incidents to the conduct of war?”
“All the committee knows is what we read in the newspapers, which is actually a pretty sad commentary on the lack of the partnership that we should have in this fight, with the Legislative and Executive branch working together,” Rep. Lofgren concluded. “You have a job to do, but the Congress also has a job to do and we have been denied the opportunity to do it.”
Rep. Lofgren has been a leader in the House of Representatives in calling for oversight of the NSA eavesdropping program. Her letters can be viewed at: http://www.house.gov/lofgren/nsa_spying.shtml.
