PROTECT AMERICA ACT OF 2007

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia: Mr. Speaker, last night we considered a bill that the Director of National Intelligence said provided everything we needed. We didn't pass that bill, and here we are today.

This bill, unfortunately, does more than what's needed. It really lets the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General to kind of use their imagination to decide when surveillance is appropriate without any meaningful review.

This bill will allow warrantless collection of personal data, e-mails, Internet usage, and allows the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to do data mining, Internet usage monitoring, reading e-mails or otherwise acquiring information on every American, even domestic communications, as long as they determine that the surveillance is gathering foreign intelligence, that's not terrorism information, that's anything involving diplomacy, concerning someone abroad, not someone who is abroad. It could be a conversation, if the conversation concerns someone abroad. It's helpful just to read the language of the bill.

Section 105(b)(a), notwithstanding any other law, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General may, for periods of up to 1 year, authorize the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning persons reasonably believed to be outside the United States if the Director of National Intelligence and Attorney General determine, based on information, so on and so forth, that, among other things, that the information that they are gathering is that a significant purpose is the acquisition of foreign intelligence, doesn't even have to be the main purpose, just a significant purpose.

There is no meaningful oversight. They just have to determine that and put it in writing. Then they can listen in.

In terms of the reverse targeting, the language that the gentleman used makes it clear that if they are talking to somebody outside, they can listen to someone domestically.