Local Rep. Adam Schiff (D-28th District) recently expressed praise in the proposed changes the presidential advisory committee revealed regarding the National Security Administration's metadata collection on US phone calls.
In a New York Times article [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/13/world/americas/obama-panel-said-to-urge-nsa-curbs.html?pagewanted=...], the advisory committee recommended that the program to collect data on every phone call made in the United States should continue, although under broader restrictions to increase privacy protections.
In addition to increasing privacy under the program, steps taken to ensure privacy would be publicly addressed and announced, the New York Times reported.
“I am pleased to learn that the President’s taskforce studying NSA reforms will recommend ending the bulk collection of American’s telephone call records, among other useful reforms," Schiff said in a written statement. "I have consistently maintained that instead of collecting vast amounts of domestic phone records, we should query the records held by phone companies on a case by case basis."
Schiff added that he has introduced reform legislation regarding surveillance.
The "Ending Secret Law Act" would require the Attorney General to declassify the opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on their interpretation of legal authorities created under certain sections the PATRIOT Act and FISA Amendments Act.
Another piece of legislation introduced by Schiff would require the President to nominate members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court who would then require confirmation by the Senate.
Schiff also introduced legislation that would require the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board to create a pool of attorneys knowledgeable in the Fourth Amendment or national security law to advocate for the public when the government requests a surveillance warrant.
