2014: Schweikert Voted To Block NSA And Other Intelligence Agencies From Searching For Americans' Communications In The Data Obtained By Broadly Collecting All Foreigners' Communications. In June 2014, Schweikert voted for an amendment to FY 2015 defense appropriations legislation that, according to Congressional Quarterly, "would bar funds in the bill from being used to query metadata collected by the U.S. intelligence community with the personally identifiable information of a U.S. citizen or person legally residing in the country. It also would prohibit funds from being used by the National Security Agency for the practice of 'backdoor' surveillance -- requiring or requesting the redesign of a product to facilitate the electronic surveillance of a person who uses it." The House adopted the amendment by a vote of 293 to 123. The underlying bill later passed the House. The bill died in the Senate. [House Vote 327, 6/19/14; Congressional Quarterly, 6/19/14; Congressional Actions, H. Amdt. 935; Congressional Actions, H.R. 4870]
Former NSA Contractor Edward Snowden Disclosed NSA's Daily Collection And Retention Of Most Domestic Call Records And Other Non-Content "Metadata," Such As Phone Numbers Called And Length Of The Call. According to Congressional Quarterly, "In June 2013, Edward Snowden, a former contractor and CIA employee, through news organizations began releasing highly classified documents pertaining to a large number of top-secret NSA data collection programs. Among the revelations was that the NSA was using its Section 215 authority for the mass collection of 'telephony metadata' from telecommunications companies of most calls made within the United States and to or from foreign countries --- including the calls of U.S. citizens. The FISA court had granted a blanket order that telephone companies on an 'ongoing, daily basis' provide this metadata information to the NSA, and the NSA was indefinitely storing the data so that it could quickly examine any call connections related to possible terrorism without having to get a warrant for information on a specific target. (Telephone metadata includes the date, time and duration of calls but does not include either content or personal identification information.)" [Congressional Quarterly, 5/21/14]
Snowden Also Disclosed The NSA's PRISM "Data Mining" Program, Under Which The NSA Collected And Stored Emails, Photos, Videos, Chats And Other Internet Data Associated With Potential Foreign Targets, Using Authority Granted By Section 702 Of The FISA Amendments Act. According to Congressional Quarterly, "Also revealed [by Snowden] was NSA's PRISM 'data mining' program, which operated under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act and through which the NSA has obtained data from electronic service providers on non-U.S. persons who reside outside the United States, including email, chat, photos, videos, stored data and file transfers (the NSA was also found to be tapping into the overseas data hubs of Internet providers without their knowledge). Section 702 also allows the NSA to perform 'upstream collection' of data that cites or mentions potential intelligence targets." [Congressional Quarterly, 5/21/14]
While The NSA Collects Data Under Section 702 By Targeting Non-Americans That The Agency Believes Are Not In The United States, The Data Collected Likely Includes Americans Communications As Well. According to Congressional Quarterly, "Although the upstream collection represents just 9% of the NSA's Section 702 work, it has engendered criticism in the civil liberties community because it likely captures thousands of U.S. citizens' records, including both metadata and communications." [Congressional Quarterly, 5/21/14]
The NSA Has Said That They Search For Americans' Communications In Data Collected Previously Under Section 702 And Then Stored. According to a March 2014 letter to Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) from the Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper, and reprinted in the Congressional Record, "During the January 29, 2014, Worldwide Threat hearing, you cited declassified court documents from 2011 indicating that NSA sought and obtained the authority to query information collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA), using U.S. person identifiers, and asked whether any such queries had been conducted for the communications of specific Americans. As reflected in the August 2013 Semiannual Assessment of Compliance with Procedures and Guidelines Issued Pursuant to Section 702, which we declassified and released on August 21. [sic] 2013, there have been queries, using U.S. person identifiers, of communications lawfully acquired to obtain foreign intelligence by targeting non U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the U.S. pursuant to Section 702 of FISA. These queries were performed pursuant to minimization procedures approved by the FISA Court as consistent with the statute and the Fourth Amendment. As you know, when Congress reauthorized Section 702, the proposal to restrict such queries was specifically raised and ultimately not adopted." [3/28/25via Congressional Record, 6/19/14]
According To Its Sponsor, The Amendment Would Close "Backdoor" That Allows The NSA To Search Americans' Communications Without A Court Order. According to the Congressional Record, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), one of the amendment's sponsors, said, "There are two provisions here, and they both close backdoors. One backdoor currently allows, without probable cause or a warrant, for the NSA to query a database of American persons' information. This is wrong. They should have a warrant." [Congressional Record, 6/19/14]
Opponent Argued Amendment Would Make Americans Less Safe From Terrorist Attacks By Blocking Searches For Potential American Connections Of Terrorists, Making It Harder To Track Them. According to the Congressional Record, House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said, "[T]he bill passed by this House honors the Fourth Amendment and protects the rights of American citizens. At the same time, Islamic radical terrorists are on the march in Iraq, and the leader has publicly threatened to attack America, Syria has become a vortex of jihadists from across the globe, and the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Homeland Security have warned of the growing threat these jihadists pose to our own homeland. State control has collapsed in Libya, and rival gangs of radical terrorists have established safe havens that rival those in Afghanistan prior to 2001. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda continue to fight. Moreover, the administration has released the Taliban Five from Guantanamo, emboldening the terrorists. The terrorist danger is grave and growing. The terrorist threat is not contained overseas. The U.S. homeland remains a prime aspiration and target. This amendment would create a blind spot for the intelligence community tracking terrorists with direct connections to the U.S. homeland. This amendment would impose greater restrictions on the intelligence community's ability to protect national security than constitutionally required and create an impediment to the government's ability to locate threat information already in its possession. Such an impediment would put American lives at risk of another terrorist attack. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment and stand by the legislation passed. It is also being considered in the Senate and there will be further negotiations, but this -- this -- contradicts the intent of the House and endangers America's national security." [Congressional Record, 6/19/14]
Amendment Contained Provisions Removed By The House Judiciary Committee From The Original USA FREEDOM Act. According to the Congressional Record, Massie said, "[T]he chairman of the Judiciary Committee is correct. This [amendment] was in the original FREEDOM Act, and it was stripped out in his committee. That is why many of the Members who originally sponsored the FREEDOM Act did not, in fact, vote for the final version, and I would argue that it was not legislated. The final version of the FREEDOM Act was done behind closed doors, and when it came to this floor, we would have loved to have offered amendments, but the rules were written such that we could not amend it. Legislators from 435 districts had no say in the final bill, and that is why we are here tonight with this amendment, to reinsert this provision which over 150 Members of this body sponsored." [Congressional Record, 6/19/14]
2014: Schweikert Voted To Forbid The National Security Agency From Asking Companies To Change Their Products Or Services To Enable Secret Monitoring Or Exploitation Of Them And Their Users. In June 2014, Schweikert voted for an amendment to FY 2015 defense appropriations legislation that, according to Congressional Quarterly, "would bar funds in the bill from being used to query metadata collected by the U.S. intelligence community with the personally identifiable information of a U.S. citizen or person legally residing in the country. It also would prohibit funds from being used by the National Security Agency for the practice of 'backdoor' surveillance -- requiring or requesting the redesign of a product to facilitate the electronic surveillance of a person who uses it." The House adopted the amendment by a vote of 293 to 123. The underlying bill later passed the House. The bill died in the Senate. [House Vote 327, 6/19/14; Congressional Quarterly, 6/19/14; Congressional Actions, H. Amdt. 935; Congressional Actions, H.R. 4870]
2013: Reuters Reported That The NSA Paid Security Company RSA $10 Million To Change One Of Their Software Libraries To Promote The Use Of A Component That NSA Reportedly Had Compromised. According to Reuters, "As a key part of a campaign to embed encryption software that it could crack into widely used computer products, the U.S. National Security Agency arranged a secret $10 million contract with RSA, one of the most influential firms in the computer security industry, Reuters has learned. Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show that the NSA created and promulgated a flawed formula for generating random numbers to create a 'back door' in encryption products, the New York Times reported in September. Reuters later reported that RSA became the most important distributor of that formula by rolling it into a software tool called Bsafe that is used to enhance security in personal computers and many other products. Undisclosed until now was that RSA received $10 million in a deal that set the NSA formula as the preferred, or default, method for number generation in the BSafe software, according to two sources familiar with the contract. Although that sum might seem paltry, it represented more than a third of the revenue that the relevant division at RSA had taken in during the entire previous year, securities filings show." [Reuters, 12/20/13]
U.S. Tech Companies Have Said NSA Spying Revelations, Suspicions Of Back Doors, Have Damaged Foreign Customers' Trust In Them, Potentially Costing Them Tens Of Billions Of Dollars In Lost Business. According to The New York Times, "Microsoft has lost customers, including the government of Brazil. IBM is spending more than a billion dollars to build data centers overseas to reassure foreign customers that their information is safe from prying eyes in the United States government. And tech companies abroad, from Europe to South America, say they are gaining customers that are shunning United States providers, suspicious because of the revelations by Edward J. Snowden that tied these providers to the National Security Agency's vast surveillance program. [...] Despite the tech companies' assertions that they provide information on their customers only when required under law --- and not knowingly through a back door --- the perception that they enabled the spying program has lingered. 'It's clear to every single tech company that this is affecting their bottom line,' said Daniel Castro, a senior analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, who predicted that the United States cloud computing industry could lose $35 billion by 2016. The business effect of the disclosures about the N.S.A. is felt most in the daily conversations between tech companies with products to pitch and their wary customers. The topic of surveillance, which rarely came up before, is now 'the new normal' in these conversations, as one tech company executive described it." [New York Times, 3/21/14]
2014: Schweikert Voted Against Limiting Government Bulk Collection Of Domestic Communications Data, And Searches Of That Data, Under The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In May 2014, Schweikert voted against a bill that, according to Congressional Quarterly, "This bill modifies domestic surveillance authorities by prohibiting the National Security Agency's (NSA) bulk collection and storage of telephone metadata and ability to collect other bulk data, requiring the NSA to obtain approval from the FISA court to examine the calling records of individual target telephone numbers on a case-by-case basis, before the request for information is made to a phone company, and limiting the associated calling records of a telephone number that may be examined to two 'hops' from the suspect's number --- essentially codifying the proposals made by the president in March. It also redefines the type of information that may be subject to a search query under surveillance programs, imposes additional surveillance oversight requirements and requires the declassification of FISA court orders and decisions, and extends certain provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire next year. The bill's prohibition on domestic bulk collection, as well as the criteria for specifying the information to be collected, would apply not only to Section 215 surveillance activities but also to other law enforcement communications interception authorities, such as national security letters and pen register and trap-and-trace devices." The House passed the bill by a vote of 303 to 121. The bill died in the Senate. [House Vote 230, 5/22/14; Congressional Quarterly, 5/21/14; Congressional Actions, H.R. 3361]
Bill Came After Former NSA Contractor Edward Snowden Disclosed NSA's Daily Collection Of Most Domestic Call Records And Other Non-Content "Metadata," And NSA's PRISM "Data Mining" Program. According to Congressional Quarterly, "In June 2013, Edward Snowden, a former contractor and CIA employee, through news organizations began releasing highly classified documents pertaining to a large number of top-secret NSA data collection programs. Among the revelations was that the NSA was using its Section 215 authority for the mass collection of 'telephony metadata' from telecommunications companies of most calls made within the United States and to or from foreign countries --- including the calls of U.S. citizens. The FISA court had granted a blanket order that telephone companies on an 'ongoing, daily basis' provide this metadata information to the NSA, and the NSA was indefinitely storing the data so that it could quickly examine any call connections related to possible terrorism without having to get a warrant for information on a specific target. (Telephone metadata includes the date, time and duration of calls but does not include either content or personal identification information.) Also revealed was NSA's PRISM 'data mining' program, which operated under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act and through which the NSA has obtained data from electronic service providers on non-U.S. persons who reside outside the United States, including email, chat, photos, videos, stored data and file transfers (the NSA was also found to be tapping into the overseas data hubs of Internet providers without their knowledge). Section 702 also allows the NSA to perform 'upstream collection' of data that cites or mentions potential intelligence targets. Although the upstream collection represents just 9% of the NSA's Section 702 work, it has engendered criticism in the civil liberties community because it likely captures thousands of U.S. citizens' records, including both metadata and communications." [Congressional Quarterly, 5/21/14]
While Privacy Advocates And Many Lawmakers Supported The House-Judiciary-And-Intelligence-Committee-Produced Bill, Some Groups Said That House Leadership's Later Changes, Made After Administration Requests, Might Permit Broader Data Collection, And Several Privacy Groups Withdrew Their Support. According to Congressional Quarterly, "Lawmakers on a bipartisan basis subsequently drafted legislation intended to protect privacy by ending the bulk collection and storage of data on Americans while also preserving the ability of intelligence agencies to detect and prevent terrorist plots. Committee consideration of the bill was relatively uncontentious, with both the Judiciary and Intelligence committees adopting the measure by unanimous votes. However, Obama administration officials pressed House leaders to rewrite certain provisions, and House leaders agreed to certain modifications --- including to a definition regarding what limited types of bulk collection would still be allowed (specifically the definition of "specific selection term"). The administration reportedly wanted the change so that law enforcement could continue to obtain certain business records, as they currently do in their investigations, while some privacy groups say the change could provide a loophole through which the government could obtain much broader amounts of information. Those changes have led a number of privacy groups to withdraw their support from the bill, while others say they will not oppose the measure given that it still represents a step forward." [Congressional Quarterly, 5/21/14]
2013: Schweikert Voted To Block The National Security Agency's Bulk Collection Of All U.S. Phone Call Records Under The USA PATRIOT Act. In March 2013, Schweikert voted for an amendment to the 2014 Defense Authorization Bill that would have, according to Congressional Quarterly, "... bar[red] funding of any mass collection of personal records under the Patriot Act (PL 107-56), including of phone metadata, unless the subject of the collection is already the target of an investigation into terrorism or espionage, according to a copy of the amendment." According to Congressional Quarterly the "amendment by Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., [...] would have ended authority for the blanket collection of records under the Patriot Act." The House rejected the amendment by a vote of 205 to 217. [House Vote 412, 7/24/13; Congressional Quarterly, 7/16/13; Congressional Quarterly, 7/25/13; Congressional Actions, H. Amdt. 413; Congressional Actions, H.R. 2397]
Verizon Had Been Ordered By A Secret Court Under The PATRIOT Act To Turn Over To The NSA Each Day Records On All Telephone Calls Where All Or Some Of The Participants Were Inside The United States. According to the Washington Post, "The National Security Agency appears to be collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of American customers of Verizon, one of the nation's largest phone companies, under a top-secret court order issued in April. The order appears to require a Verizon subsidiary to provide the NSA with daily information on all telephone calls by its customers within the United States and from foreign locations into the United States. [...] The order falls under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the government to make broad demands on telephone carriers for information about calls" [Washington Post, 6/6/13]
The Obama Administration Said The Order "Does Not Allow The Government To Listen In On Anyone's Telephone Calls" But Relates Only To "Metadata, Such As A Telephone Number Or The Length Of A Call." According to the Washington Post, "A senior Obama administration official said Thursday that the purported order 'does not allow the government to listen in on anyone's telephone calls' but relates only to 'metadata, such as a telephone number or the length of a call.' The official said such information 'has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States.'" [Washington Post, 6/6/13]
Metadata Includes Information Such As The Phone Numbers Involved In Calls, When And Where They Occurred And Their Duration. According to Congressional Quarterly, "Metadata refers to information such as the phone numbers involved in calls, when and where they occurred and their duration." [Congressional Quarterly, 7/16/13]
The Center For Constitutional Rights Said The Order Required No Level Of Suspicion And Prohibited Verizon From Discussing The Order With Anyone Other Than Their Counsel. According to the Washington Post, "The Center for Constitutional Rights, which has sued the government over its surveillance practices, said in a statement Wednesday night that the order 'requires no level of suspicion and applies to all Verizon subscribers anywhere in the U.S. It also contains a gag order prohibiting Verizon from disclosing information about the order to anyone other than their counsel.'" [Washington Post, 6/6/13]
Rep. Amash Argued His Amendment Would Stop The NSA From Using The PATRIOT Act To "Go After Everyone's Records." According to the Washington Free Beacon, "Asked to explain his position at a Monday afternoon press gathering, Amash argued that the NSA is violating the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. 'The secret [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] courts have expanded the meaning of the Patriot Act to allow them to go after everyone's records,' Amash said. 'All my amendment would do is return the Patriot Act to its original Intent.'" [Washington Free Beacon, 7/24/13]
Rep. Michele Bachmann Said She Opposed The Amendment Because It Would Put All Americans At Risk" From Islamic Terrorists. According to the Washington Free Beacon, "Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) was the sole Republican present at the gathering to vocally object to Amash's amendment, which she dubbed as dangerous. 'We need to win the war on terror and defeat the goals and aims of Islamic jihad and for that reason I will be voting no on Representative Amash's amendment,' Bachmann said before sparing with Amash about the measure's merits.[...] Amash's amendment, Bachmann said, would stop the United States from identifying terrorists and their larger networks in real time. This could put all Americans at risk." [Washington Free Beacon, 7/24/13]