[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 27458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         MODERNIZING THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT

  (Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, it has been 30 years 
since Congress first implemented FISA allowing the use of 
telecommunications technology against those who threaten the safety of 
our people and our way of life. The majority party has refused to 
believe that FISA needs to be modernized in a way that improves our 
intelligence agencies' capability to gather information, not hamper it.
  When FISA passed 30 years ago, technology didn't include devices used 
now on an everyday basis. Just think, 10 years ago hardly anybody even 
owned a cell phone. The Director of National Intelligence testified 
before the House Judiciary Committee that if the government required 
FISA court orders for surveillance overseas, approximately 66 percent 
of the information normally collected would be lost.
  Therefore, Congress should have its duty to update the tools used by 
our intelligence officials so that they have the ability to gather all 
the essential information to prevent future attacks. FISA needs to be 
modernized.
  I encourage my colleagues on the floor today to vote against this 
flawed FISA bill.

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