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Dick Durbin On NSA Surveillance Controversy: I Told You So

Dick Durbin On NSA Surveillance: I Told You So
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Eat The Press Editor, HuffPost

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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) joins Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) today in being forced into a state of agita over the revelation that the NSA has been "collecting the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon." In a statement, Durbin says that the disclosure is "disturbing, but it should not be surprising":

"For over a decade, we've debated how best to protect America from terrorism while preserving the most basic constitutional rights," Durbin said. "Today's revelation is disturbing, but it should not be surprising. I have tried to reform this provision of the Patriot Act for years, introducing legislation and offering amendments to ensure that secret demands for sensitive personal information on Americans is limited only to those individuals suspected of being involved in plots against our country. As I said when I offered my amendment in 2009, 'someday the cloak will be lifted and future generations will ask whether our actions today meet the test of a democratic society -- transparency, accountability and fidelity to the rule of law and our Constitution.' Today that cloak has been lifted and this important debate must begin again."

Niels Lesniewski, writing for Roll Call's (absolutely awesomely named) #WGDB blog, has more from Durbin:

"I've offered several [proposals] over the years, and I'm prepared to offer them again," Durbin said. "I think there are ways to make this more specific so that any data collected is specific to a suggestion that an individual is ... engaged in conduct that endangers America."

Durbin said that it ultimately comes down to whether the current net is too wide.

"Whether we collect everything and then look for the specific offenders or we zero in on information that relates to those who've offended," Durbin said. "Some of it is technical, but some of it's pretty basic in principle."

As Lesniewski reminds, Durbin's concerns are essentially contrasted by lawmakers like Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) who think that this is all no biggie, man, chill.

While Durbin cast a "yea" vote for the 2006 reauthorization of the Patriot Act, he subsequently voted against its reauthorization in 2012, as well as voting against the 2008 FISA Amendments Act that accorded retroactive immunity to telecoms that participated in such surveillance.

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Before You Go

Politicians React To NSA Collecting Phone Records
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)(01 of07)
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the court order for telephone records was part of a three-month renewal of an ongoing practice, the Associated Press reported."It’s called protecting America," Feinstein said at a Capitol Hill news conference. (credit:AP)
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.)(02 of07)
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Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) said "the administration owes the American public an explanation of what authorities it thinks it has." (credit:AP)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)(03 of07)
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) thought everyone "should just calm down.""Right now I think everyone should just calm down and understand this isn't anything that's brand new," Reid said. (credit:Getty Images)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)(04 of07)
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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in a statement:"This type of secret bulk data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans’ privacy." (credit:AP)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)(05 of07)
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he was "glad" the NSA was collecting phone records. "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 phone with somebody in the United States," Graham said in an interview on "Fox and Friends." (credit:AP)
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)(06 of07)
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Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) also claimed that reports of the NSA collecting phone records was "nothing particularly new.""Every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this," Chambliss said. "And to my knowledge we have not had any citizen who has registered a complaint relative to the gathering of this information." (credit:AP)
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)(07 of07)
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Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) found the NSA collecting phone records "troubling.""The fact that all of our calls are being gathered in that way -- ordinary citizens throughout America -- to me is troubling and there may be some explanation, but certainly we all as citizens are owed that, and we're going to be demanding that," Corker said. (credit:AP)
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