Senate Proceeding on Oct 7th, 2009 :: 6:06:15 to 6:21:35
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6:06:15 to 6:21:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Orrin Hatch

6:06:16 to 6:06:36( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: i ask unanimous consent th dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: mr. president, today i rise to express my concerns about the patriot act sunshine extension act. this bill before the senate judiciary committee could have dire consequences on

6:06:37 to 6:06:57( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: intelligence collection and investigations. while i have several concerns about the provisions in this bill and how they will adversely affect the intelligence community, particular attention should be given to what our intelligence to fecials have said -- professionals have said about this bill. stake holders in the intelligence community and f.b.i. have expressed concern

6:06:58 to 6:07:18( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: that this bill will consequences on the tools that those agencies rely on to carry out intelligence investigations, identify operatives an prevent future attacks. this is critical to disrupt terrorist plots here in the united states before they imminent threats to our safety. and as we've seen in the past

6:07:19 to 6:07:41( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: few weeks, investigations in texas, illinois, colorado, and new york confirm what we already know. there are people in this country who want to and intend to harm us. the only way to stop these terrorists operatives is to give our counterterrorism the tools they depend on to

6:07:42 to 6:08:02( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: detect these plots, thwart attacks an if possible arrest the person planning these operations. i am troubled by the fact that we are rushing this bill through a committee without taking the time to consider the concerns of those charged with detecting terrorist plots. i urge my c ready to stand up and say that this bill will not affect current and future

6:08:03 to 6:08:23( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: investigations to stop for a moment an really listen to pot fecials who use and need these tools on a daily basis. don't just hear their concerns. really listen to them. many of these professionals who were around before september 11, and they rember how difficult it was to act quickly to collect basic information about

6:08:24 to 6:08:44( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: three provisions of the patriot act are set to expire on december 31, 2009. these are roving wiretaps, business records access, also referred to as section 215 business records, and t wolf provision. at this time the provision has yet to be used.

6:08:45 to 6:09:05( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: it was created in response to the moussaoui case. it has the definition of -- quote -- "an agent of a foreign power" to include any person other than a u.s. person who -- quote -- "engages in international terrorism or activities in preparation therefore

6:09:06 to 6:09:27( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: or activities preparation therefore. the expanded definition allows the government to obtain a fisa, foreign intelligence surveillance court order to survey a nonu.s. person who has no known ties to a group or entity. congress passed this lone wolf provision because it was

6:09:28 to 6:09:48( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: concerned that the previous fisa definitions did not cover unaffiliated individuals or those for whom no affiliation can be established who nonetheless engage or preparing to engage in international terrorism. f.b.i. director muller asked specifically this authority be

6:09:49 to 6:10:10( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: extended across another moussaoui, there is no doubt that the f.b.i. can intercept communications. we wouldn't tell a police officer he has to give up his gun simply because he hasn't used it yet, would we. the other two set to expire are

6:10:11 to 6:10:31( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: record searches. these tools are extremely important in the f.b.i.'s investigative work and the f.b.i. has a solid track record of using them too. from 2004 through 2008, the f.b.i. has obtained 23orders from the fisa court to produce business records.

6:10:32 to 6:10:52( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: the business records authority has been exceptionally useful in many types of national security investigation. it routinely gives the intelligence community important information that cane used to build the case for or surveillances of terrorist suspects. roving wiretap authority h

6:10:53 to 6:11:14( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: similarly increased the f.b.i.'s efficiency in critical investigations. the f.b.i. has obtained roving wiretap authority an average of 22 times per year. during the senate judiciary committee's oversight hearing of the f.b.i., i asked director muller if he supported the reauthorization of these tools. he told me that these tools are

6:11:15 to 6:11:35( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: extremely important to investigations and that he hoped the tools would be extended. director muller has repeatedly expressed his support of these tools to other senators in committe in september director mueller appeared before the government affairs committee. chairman lieberman asked the

6:11:36 to 6:11:57( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: director, if there was one thing that the bureau needed that would assist in the counterterrorism mission? director into the fray and say, yes, the patriot act is going to be debated. i essential to us, particularly the first two which relates to business record and, secondly,

6:11:58 to 6:12:18( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: the roving wiretaps, and third, while it has not been used, the lone wolf will be and is important if we get a similar situation that we had with moussaoui in 2001. so i would urge the reenactment unquote. in his response to chairman lieberman, director mueller also

6:12:19 to 6:12:39( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: endorsed national security letters as a vital tool in gathering information. he further stated that n.s.l. contribute to the success of investigations through -- quote -- "information we can gather not of substantive conversations but ofag data or the telephone

6:12:40 to 6:13:00( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: toll data we can obtain from national security letters." it -- it is obtaining these capabilities that is important. unquote. the substitute takes aim at them as well. currently n.s.l.'s cannot be used to wiretapitizens, scan e-mails or conduct any type --

6:13:01 to 6:13:23( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: any kind of surveillance. n.s.l. simply allow the government to retrieve the sort of transactional recor that are extremely useful in uncovering terrorist activities. n.s.l.'s are the most effective method of obtaining this routine data critical to detecting,

6:13:24 to 6:13:45( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: monitoring and undermining terrorist activities. they are also used to rule out individuals as terror suspects. intelligence investigations are a mosaic. each bit of information is laid out and compared to other data. when these records are to other facts or information, they become the tiles tt

6:13:46 to 6:14:07( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: compose the picture and provide investigators with the identies of opportunists. the supreme court clearly stated that the fourth amendment is not implicated when these type of records held by third parties are shared with the government. the high court has reasoned that citizens hold no expectation of privacy when

6:14:08 to 6:14:28( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: created through business transactions ortherwise. the same records and data are just as easily obtained by investigators in criminal cases when they seek this investigation through an administrative or grand why youy subpoena. this information is routinely obtained with little oversight in criminal investigations.

6:14:29 to 6:14:51( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: n.s.l.'s are narrow in scope and already have multiple layers of oversight and built-in protections for provides yism some on the left have maligned n.s.l.'s from george 1984. these critics have misread the

6:14:52 to 6:15:13( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: findings outlined in the d.o.j. use of national security letters. in march 2007, the inspector general released its first report in which it criticized aspects of the f.b.i.'s use and record keeping of n.s.l.'s. i have reviewed the full and it's clear to me that the errors identified by the i.g. or

6:15:14 to 6:15:34( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: inspector general with to n.s.l.'s are largely administrative in nature. now, some critics have been quick to point to the i.g.'s criticism of the f.b.i.'s use of what are called, letters" as a reason to clamp down on the use of n.s.l.'s, but

6:15:35 to 6:15:57( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: it is simply not supported by the evidence. exigent are not national security letters and the i.g.'s findings should have no impact on whether current n.s.l. authorities remain intact. in march, 2008, the i.g. issued a second report that reviewed the corrective measures as a result of the first

6:15:58 to 6:16:19( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: the i.g. found that the f.b.i. and d.o.j. were committed to correcting and ip improving the earlier identified administrative problems wit n.s.l.'s. e report also stated that the f.b.i. has oade significant progress in addressing compliance issues and implementing recommendations. under the leadership of director muller, the f.b.i. has made

6:16:20 to 6:16:42( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: great stres in correcting previous errors associated with n.s.l.'s. for example, they have and clarified policies and increased traing on the proper issuance and handling of n.s.l.'s. they created the office integrity and compliance to ensure that the f.b.i. continues

6:16:43 to 6:17:03( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: to comply with applicable statutes, guidelines, and policies. most significantly, the f.b.i. mandated the use of a web-based automatic n.s.l. creation system that prompts the drafter to enter all information necessary to create an n.s.l.

6:17:04 to 6:17:25( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: this system supplies the appropriate statutory language and ensures that the n.s.l. and the supporting memorandum are internally consistent. an n.s.l. can be issued from this system only after all the required officials have approved it within the system. this system will go a long way

6:17:26 to 6:17:47( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: toward curing the errors identified by the i.g. although both reports show that the f.b.i. has sometimes struggled to measure up to its own internal standards in using incidents of misuse were infrequent and unintentional. in short,

6:17:48 to 6:18:09( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: were no abuses of n.s.l.'s as we have so often been led to believe. it is my opinion, and many in the f.b.i. and congress share this opinion, that the administrative errors identified by the i.g. could be solved easily if the f.b.i. had a nationalecurity administrative subpoena, one type of subpoena

6:18:10 to 6:18:33( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: for all national security records, just as the f.b.i., d.e.a., postal general, and a host of other types of criminal and administrative matters. those on the left who would prefer that the f.b.i. not have n.s.l. authority ignore the many investigative successes

6:18:34 to 6:18:57( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: outlined in the i.g. reports. for example, n.s.l.'s have provided information identifying terrorist financiers, revealed key information regarding pre-attack behavior and detected an government contractor. the repts are unequivocal --

6:18:58 to 6:19:18( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: nazi s.l.'s are an -- n.s.l.'s are an indispensable tool in national secity investigations. provisions in s. substitute will undoubtedly have a negative effect on their operational effectiveness. but n.s.l.'s aren't the only tool that will suffer under this substitute.

6:19:19 to 6:19:39( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: new and, frankly, unprecedented minimization requirements will wreak havoc on ordinary pen registers, on reasonable and confusing standards of proof of delay, and even preve usage of basic tools. new reporting requirements could compromise sources and methods and sneak and peek search

6:19:40 to 6:20:00( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: warrants have been crendered useless. my greatest fear is that this bill will reduce our terrorist capability to the sta possessed preceding the who are horrific attacks of septembe11, 2001. i have great respect for the fine men and women who serve our

6:20:01 to 6:20:21( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: money in our law enforcement and intelligence communities. their focus, vigilance, and attention to detail are critical in intelligence colction, analysis, and detection of terr only occasionally, as in the past few weeks, does the american public hear about the successes

6:20:22 to 6:20:43( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: efforts and these basic tools bring but here in congress, we know the truth and we should do all in our power to help these professionals do their i'm reminded of a quote attributed to british prime minister winston churchill who said "we sleep sound in our beds because rough men the night to visit violence on

6:20:44 to 6:21:04( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: those who would do us harm." we should never lose sight of the fact that we're at war. one of our greatest assets in this war is the ability to detect, investigate, and disrupt terrorist plots whose purpose is to harm our citizens on our own soil. neither this

6:21:05 to 6:21:25( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: original bill is an improvement to the patriot act. i believe firmly that this bill could reduce our intelligence collection capability to the level that existed before the attacks of 9/11. i urge my colleagues to take careful notice of the this substitute. the best path forward is clear.

6:21:26 to 6:21:35( Edit History Discussion )

Orrin Hatch: congress should simply vote to extend the sunsets on the three expiring patriot act provisions and rejec any measure that would tie the hands of those