Bills Pending As of 9/11/13 that Relate to NSA Surveillance

Members of Congress have introduced a series of bills to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in response to disclosure of information in the summer of 2013 about surveillance being conducted by the National Security Agency, demonstrating significant interest in the issue. We are providing a description of these bills that 1) reform Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, the authority that NSA says empowers it to record all telephone calls made to, from and within the U.S, 2) permit companies to disclose on a granular basis the extent to which they are disclosing user data in response to FISA demands, 3) reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court – including by requiring a Special Advocate to argue for privacy rights – and 4) encourage or require the government to disclose significant decisions of the FISC, or unclassified summaries of those decisions. Of particular importance is Senator Leahy’s bill, S.1215, which has the power to be moved through Committee given the role of its lead sponsor. In addition to a variety of transparency measures, this legislation seeks to end the bulk collection program conducted pursuant to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act by enacting new requirements for the collection of data.