'A critical tool in protecting nation': Other views

USA TODAY





Josh Earnest, White House spokesman: "The Obama administration has made public that some orders issued by the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court ... have been used to support important and highly sensitive intelligence collection operations on which members of Congress have been fully and repeatedly briefed. ... There is also extensive oversight by the executive branch, including the Department of Justice and relevant agency counsels and inspectors general. ... The order (in this case) does not allow the government to listen in on anyone's telephone calls. The information acquired does not include the content of any communications or the name of any subscriber. It relates exclusively to call details, such as a telephone number or the length of a telephone call. The information ... has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terror threats."

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.: "The National Security Agency's seizure and surveillance of virtually all of Verizon's phone customers is an astounding assault on the Constitution. After revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted political dissidents and the Department of Justice seized reporters' phone records, it would appear that this administration has now sunk to a new low. When Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and I offered an amendment that would attach Fourth Amendment protections to FISA last year, it was defeated, and FISA was passed by an overwhelming majority of the Senate. At the time, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid remarked that FISA was 'necessary to protect us from the evil in this world.' The Bill of Rights was designed to protect us from evil, too."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.: "Obviously, if they are trying to track bad people, then I think there's legitimacy to it, but is there sufficient oversight? Is it sufficiently narrow in scope? We just need to hear more about it, but it is a matter of concern."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.: "As far as I know, this is the exact three-month renewal of what has been the case for the past seven years. ... It is lawful. It has been briefed to Congress. ... People are trying to get to us. ... This is the reason why the FBI now has 10,000 people doing intelligence on counterterrorism. This is the reason for the national counterterrorism center. ... It's to ferret this out before it happens. It's called protecting America."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Fox News: "We should be concerned about terrorists trying to infiltrate our country and attack us, and trying to coordinate activities from overseas inside the country. ... I'm a Verizon customer. I don't mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist's phone with somebody in the United States."