On July 24, an amendment that would have limited the National Security Agency’s (NSA) ability to gather metadata on communications was narrowly defeated in the House of Representatives by only 12 votes. Dubbed the Amash-Conyers Amendment after Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the legislation would have required the government to specifically identify targets of surveillance, and produce evidence of a link to terrorism prior to metadata collection. The White House, and the Congressional leadership of both parties were solidly opposed to the amendment. A statement from White House spokesman Jay Carney described Amash-Conyers as a “blunt approach,” that is “not the product of an informed, open, or deliberative process.” The Washington elite have been taken aback by the mounting pressure building against the NSA’s surveillance programs since their disclosure in June by Edward Snowden. Despite a full court press against the amendment by the White House and the ranking leadership of both parties, nearly 50 percent of Representatives still supported it.
One of the Representatives who did vote for the amendment, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) released a letter last week in defense, saying:
“In short, this amendment would not prohibit the government from spying on terrorists under Section 215, or from collecting information in bulk about American’s under other legal provisions. However, the amendment would prevent the bulk collection of sensitive information on innocent Americans under Section 215 – and important improvement.”
This latest Congressional action against the NSA is part of a nationwide anti-surveillance movement that has been become increasingly active since the Snowden disclosures. In July, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against the NSA on behalf of almost two dozen civil society groups. In what had to be a historical first, diverse groups with agendas ranging from gun rights to environmental protection, to drug reform, came together to oppose the NSA’s surveillance. They are all concerned about how the surveillance undermines their constitutional rights and could lead to a chilling effect in the public’s willingness to engage with civil society groups. For more information about the impact of surveillance on civil society, see our blog post on the topic.
In late July, the ACLU and other 60 civil society groups penned an open letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to express their alarm over the surveillance programs. That letter endorsed new legislation to prohibit bulk metadata collection programs such as the Patriot 215 program. The bill is called the FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act and is co sponsored by Chairman Leahy and Senators Blumenthal and Lee.
A recent Washington Post-ABC News Poll cast some light on the changing perception of NSA surveillance. 74 percent of Americans see the surveillance programs as intruding on some Americans’ privacy rights, and half of those people see it as directly intruding on their rights. Only 42 percent of respondents said the surveillance programs made the country safer.