Members Seek Secret Surveillance Documents from AG

30 December 2005

Press Release

Congressman John Conyers, Jr.

Michigan, 14th District

Ranking Member, U.S. House

Judiciary Committee

Dean, Congressional Black

Caucus

www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/index.html

For Immediate Release:

Conyers and 26 Other

Members Submit Resolution of Inquiry in House; Members Seek

Documents from Attorney General Authorizing Secret

Surveillance

Representative John Conyers, Jr., (D-MI)

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, along with 26

other Members today submitted a comprehensive resolution of

inquiry regarding the National Security Agency's warrantless

wiretapping program on U.S. soil. If reported favorably, the

resolution would instruct the Attorney General to turn over

documents in his possession authorizing the warrantless

electronic surveillance and the legal recommendations to do

so within 14 days, subject to any necessary redactions or

security classifications.

Congressman Conyers released

the following statement:

"Today I am introducing a

Resolution of Inquiry requesting the Attorney General to

transmit to Congress documents reflecting the legal

justification for spying on American soil without judicial

approval. I introduce this Resolution on behalf of myself

and Mr. Berman, Mr. Boucher, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Scott of

Virginia, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Waters, Mr.

Meehan, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Weiner, Mr. Schiff,

Ms. Linda Sanchez, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Wasserman Schultz,

Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island, Mr. Doggett, Mr. McDermott, Mr.

Filner, Mr. Markey, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Tauscher, Ms. Lee,

Ms. McCollum, Mr. Udall of New Mexico and Mr. Holt.

"It

is my hope that the Administration will voluntarily comply

with this straightforward request, however, if they do not,

this Resolution will require a vote in the Committee, and

possibly the House floor so that the Members can go on

record concerning whether this is an important enough issue

to warrant Congressional oversight. I believe we simply

cannot tolerate a situation where the Administration is both

laying down and interpreting the law on its own accord, and

not even sharing with the Members of Congress what the legal

justification for such a program is.

"Last week we

learned that the President has been using the National

Security Agency to conduct surveillance involving U.S.

citizens on U.S. soil, in apparent contravention of the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This week we learned

that contrary to the President's assertions that the

wiretapping included only foreign calls, some of the

intercepted communications were conducted entirely within

the United States. As a result of these disclosures, one

member of the FISA Court, Judges James Robertson, resigned,

and the presiding judge of the court has sought a classified

briefing to address their concerns that the NSA program was

illegal and may have been improperly used to gain further

wiretaps from their court.

"These revelations raise some

of the most serious legal and constitutional questions

conceivable in our democracy - whether our own government is

able to intercept our most private conversations without

establishing to any independent party that such

eavesdropping is in any way necessary or related to a

possible crime. For 25 years under FISA we have created

special procedures for obtaining intelligence information on

U.S. soil. The standard for getting a wiretap warrant from

the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is so low that

only 5 out of the 19,000 applications have been denied since

1978. We even allow FISA orders to be obtained on a

retroactive basis for the first 72 hours, in case the

government needs to move with great speed.

"However, for

some reason the Bush Administration has opted not to use the

FISA laws to obtain surveillance orders involving a number

of people located on U.S. soil. As one official told the

Washington Post, "the FISA process demanded too much: to

name a target and give a reason to spy on it."

"The

purpose of this Resolution of Inquiry is to allow Congress

to obtain the necessary information so we can learn

precisely what the legal basis was for this great expansion

of executive power. We are not asking to learn about the

names or identities of the individuals who have been

surveilled, at this point we simply want to learn on what

legal basis the surveillance orders were issued. The

Administration has proposed a number of legal theories to

the press to justify the NSA wiretaps, ranging from the

President's authority as Commander In Chief to general

authority included in the post 9/11 Afghanistan Resolution."

##JUD-109-12/22/05##

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