Counter-Intelligence Provisions Pass Senate
[2] National Security Provisions Added to Competitiveness Act In March, the US Senate added several controversial provisions to S. 4, the National Competitiveness Act of 1994, to make counter-intelligence surveillance easier. The amendment, named the Counter-Intelligence Improvement Act of 1994, was introduced by Senator William Cohen (R-ME) and approved by a voice vote March 10. S. 4 passed the Senate on March 16 and is now pending in the House of Representatives as HR. 820. One provision makes it easier for the FBI to obtain credit reports. Another allows the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to authorize break-ins. Section 1011(b) authorizes the FBI to obtain the credit reports of individuals without a warrant if a designee of the Attorney General sends a letter to the credit bureau stating that the subject is the target of a counter-intelligence investigation and they have "specific and articulable facts" that the person is a foreign agent. Section 1011(c) allows the FBI to obtain the name, address, former addresses, current and former places of employment of a person from a credit bureau with a written request stating that "the information is necessary to the conduct of an authorized foreign counterintelligence investigation." The credit bureaus are prohibited from disclosing to the people that their reports have been obtained. The only oversight is a yearly report presented to the Intelligence Committees of the House and the Senate. Another provision allows the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, (FISC) a secretive court of 7 specially chosen judges created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to authorize physical searches. The court currently only has jurisdiction to authorize electronic surveillance in counter-intelligence cases. Since its formation in 1979, it has never rejected any of the 6,500 requests by the government for a electronic surveillance order.
participants (1)
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Dave Banisar