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not sure if american senator's responses are useful to this group but if anyone is interested i can continue to forward as they come. ----- Original Message ----- From: sena...@feinstein.senate.gov To: lacena...@comcast.net Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 7:34:06 AM Subject: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message Dear Ms. Faulkner : Thank you for contacting me to express concern about the USA PATRIOT Act. I recognize that this is an important issue to you, and I welcome the opportunity to share my point of view. As you may be aware, on May 26, 2011, Congress passed, with strong bi-partisan support, legislation to extend three expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act – known as "roving wiretaps," "lone wolf," and "business records" provisions – until June 1, 2015 (Pub. L. 112-14). It is important to note that all three of these authorities can only be used after being approved by a federal judge . These provisions do the following: * Roving wiretaps – before this authority was established, warrants could only be issued for a specific phone number. In the modern age of telecommunications, terrorists were able to evade surveillance simply by switching phones, which is easily done with throwaway cell phones. Thus, the "roving wiretap" authority simply authorizes a judge to issue a surveillance order that is specific to the suspect terrorist, rather than specific to a particular phone number. * Lone wolf – the lone wolf provision allows for court-ordered surveillance of foreigners who engage in international terrorism but for whom an association with a specific international terrorist group has not yet been determined. * Business records – finally, Section 215, or the business records section, allows the government to obtain business records relating to a suspected terrorist if it receives a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This provision also provides the legal authority for the National Security Agency to receive information about phone calls (the phone numbers and the time and length of the call), pursuant to a court order. In the interest of making sure these provisions can't be abused, on November 18, 2014, I joined 57 of my Senate colleagues in voting to bring the USA FREEDOM Act to the Senate Floor for amendment and debate. This bill would have reauthorized these provisions in modified form. Unfortunately, it did not receive enough votes to overcome a filibuster, but I am committed to working with my colleagues in the new Congress to pass similar legislation to extend and reform these provisions, especially Section 215, before they expire in June of this year. I understand your concerns that these authorities may be misused. As Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I have seen how United States intelligence and law enforcement agencies have used these authorities, and I have come to believe that these programs are legal, properly controlled, and have not been widely abused. I take seriously my responsibility as Vice Chairman of the Intelligence Committee and will continue to vigorously pursue oversight over these programs by working to verify that these programs are conducted legally and with the proper safeguards. Again, thank you for taking the time to write. Your feedback on this subject is important to me, and I will keep it in mind as the Senate continues further extensions of the programs authorized by the USA PATRIOT Act. If you have any additional comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein United States Senator Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the nation are available at my website, feinstein.senate.gov . And please visit my YouTube , Facebook and Twitter for more ways to communicate with me. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com