U.S. Senator Ken Salazar Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees 2300 15^th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
For Immediate Release Wednesday, July 9, 2008		CONTACT:Michael Amodeo – 303-249-5286 Matt Lee-Ashley – 202-228-5905
Sen. Salazar's Statement on FISA Passage WASHINGTON, DC – Today, United States Senator Ken Salazar released the following statement regarding the Senate’s passage of the bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008. Senator Salazar voted in support of the bill, which passed by a vote of 69-28: “The bill we passed today strengthens our nation’s ability to anticipate and prevent attacks against our homeland by giving the professionals in the intelligence community the tools they need to monitor and pursue foreign threats. At the same time, the bill protects Americans’ privacy and civil liberties.” “Importantly, this bill reasserts that the FISA court is the exclusive authority for the approval of surveillance procedures, putting a permanent end to the Bush Administration’s practice of hiding its surveillance activities from Congress and the courts. Ours is a system of checks and balances, and the FISA court’s oversight of these surveillance procedures is absolutely vital. “On the question of whether telecommunications companies should be held liable for disclosing personal information to the government following the attacks of September 11, the bill establishes a formal process for reviewing the evidence in federal district courts. This is a reasonable solution that allows these lawsuits to be addressed in a fair and judicious manner. “The civil liberties protections in this bill are also significantly better than under previous laws. The bill explicitly prohibits the warrantless targeting of any person reasonably believed to be in the United States; requires yearly audits of intelligence collection; and sets a four-year sunset for the bill to allow Congress to evaluate how the new authorities are being carried out. “To be sure, this is not a perfect bill. However, the threat of terrorism against our homeland is serious and evolving. We must continue to adapt our intelligence-gathering laws and procedures to meet these threats. By passing the FISA Amendments Act, we are giving the intelligence community the authorities needed to protect the American people, we are establishing much-needed transparency and accountability within the FISA program, and we are protecting the American people from unlawful government intrusion into their private lives.” The bill will now be sent to the President for signature. ###