Text 5096, 73 rader
Skriven 2007-08-05 23:44:44 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070805) for Sun, 2007 Aug 5
==================================================

===========================================================================
President Bush Commends Congress on Passage of Intelligence Legislation
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary August 5, 2007

President Bush Commends Congress on Passage of Intelligence Legislation

˙˙White House News

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: National Security

When our intelligence professionals have the legal tools to gather
information about the intentions of our enemies, America is safer. And when
these same legal tools also protect the civil liberties of Americans, then
we can have the confidence to know that we can preserve our freedoms while
making America safer.

The Protect America Act, passed with bipartisan support in the House and
Senate, achieves both of these goals by modernizing the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. Over the past three decades this law has not
kept pace with revolutionary changes in technology. As a result, our
intelligence professionals have told us that they are missing significant
intelligence information that they need to protect the country.

S.1927 reforms FISA by accounting for changes in technology and restoring
the statute to its original focus on appropriate protections for the rights
of persons in the United States - and not foreign targets located in
foreign lands.

Today we face a dynamic threat from enemies who understand how to use
modern technology against us. Whether foreign terrorists, hostile nations,
or other actors, they change their tactics frequently and seek to exploit
the very openness and freedoms we hold dear. Our tools to deter them must
also be dynamic and flexible enough to meet the challenges they pose. This
law gives our intelligence professionals this greater flexibility while
closing a dangerous gap in our intelligence gathering activities that
threatened to weaken our defenses.

We know that information we have been able to acquire about foreign threats
will help us detect and prevent attacks on our homeland. Mike McConnell,
the Director of National Intelligence, has assured me that this bill gives
him the most immediate tools he needs to defeat the intentions of our
enemies. And so in signing this legislation today I am heartened to know
that his critical work will be strengthened and we will be better armed to
prevent attacks in the future.

I commend members of Congress who supported these important reforms, and
also for acting before adjourning for recess. In particular, I want to
thank Mitch McConnell and John Boehner for their strong leadership on this
issue, and Senators Kit Bond and Dianne Feinstein for coming together in
the Senate on an effective bipartisan solution. In the House of
Representatives, Pete Hoekstra and Heather Wilson were instrumental in
securing enactment of this vital piece of legislation before the August
recess, and I thank them for their leadership.

While I appreciate the leadership it took to pass this bill, we must
remember that our work is not done. This bill is a temporary, narrowly
focused statute to deal with the most immediate shortcomings in the law.

When Congress returns in September the Intelligence committees and leaders
in both parties will need to complete work on the comprehensive reforms
requested by Director McConnell, including the important issue of providing
meaningful liability protection to those who are alleged to have assisted
our Nation following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

# # #
===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070805.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)