House Judiciary chairman calls for ‘further protections’ from NSA

{mosads}”I am committed to working with members of the House Judiciary Committee, House leaders, and other members of Congress to ensure our nation’s intelligence collection programs include robust oversight, additional transparency, and protections for Americans’ civil liberties while maintaining a workable legal framework for national security officials to keep our country safe from foreign enemies,” Goodlatte said. 

The classified committee hearing included testimony from James Cole, the deputy attorney general; Robert Litt, the general counsel for the Director of National Intelligence; John Inglis, the deputy director of the National Security Agency; and Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s assistant director of counter terrorism.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has introduced legislation that would end the agency’s bulk collection of records on all U.S. phone calls. 

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the original author of the Patriot Act, is also working on legislation to limit the phone data collection and increase transparency of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.