The Brennan Center for Justice joined nearly 50 human rights advocates, technology companies, and trade associations in a letter to the White House and Congressional leadership today urging key surveillance reforms to any bill that reauthorizes the USA PATRIOT Act in June 2015.
Specifically, the groups asked Congress to end bulk collection, add transparency mechanisms to any decision the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court makes, and to avoid adding any new mandates that are controversial and could derail reform efforts. “It has been nearly two years since the first news stories revealed the scope of the United States’ surveillance and bulk collection activities,” the groups stated. “Now is the time to take on meaningful legislative reforms to the nation’s surveillance programs that maintain national security while preserving privacy, transparency, and accountability.”
Groups Push for Key NSA Reforms to Bill Reupping PATRIOT Act