Rep. Peters Stands with Privacy Advocates, Pushes Further NSA Reforms

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) released the following statement after helping the House pass S. 1681 last evening, legislation which authorizes funding for the country’s intelligence agencies.

“Giving the intelligence community the tools they need to protect our country and save American lives while at the same time protecting individual privacy rights is a tough, delicate, and necessary balance we have to strike. Yesterday’s action places real restrictions on the government collection of data by putting a reasonable burden on the NSA before it can request access to private information. It also tightens up the security clearance process to prevent confidential information leaks, which threaten our national security, from occurring. We must continue to do everything we can to achieve the right balance between these two fundamental needs, a balance to which I am fully committed.”

The legislation, similar to the “USA Freedom Act” which passed the House last month, makes necessary reforms to the authority of the National Security Agency (NSA) by ending its ability to collect and hold telephone metadata and other bulk data.

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