WASHINGTON – Americans are in urgent need of more – not less – collection of their personal information by the National Security Agency, according to Sen. Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Following a classified Senate briefing Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans were shocked to learn the small scale of data being gathered by the U.S. government, Corker told reporters Wednesday morning.
“It’s almost malpractice,” the Republican Tennessee senator said. “It’s the best word I can use to describe the amount of data that’s actually being collected in the metadata program.”
Corker predicted a dramatic bipartisan reversal will occur over the next few days as lawmakers consider the extent of government surveillance of U.S. citizens under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Following the leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Corker said, a “Libertarian bent” has been pushing Americans to limit the NSA’s program, which collects call data of hundreds of millions of people.
“I think you’re going to see people on both sides of the aisle now pushing in a different direction, wondering why not more data is part of the database to protect our citizens,” Corker said.
Corker’s comments come just before a House vote Wednesday afternoon on a bipartisan bill to scale back the NSA’s powers under FISA, and ahead of the expiration of the Patriot Act in June.
Backed by the Obama administration, the bill follows last week’s New York federal appeals court ruling the NSA program illegal.
According to Corker, however, the Senate briefing Tuesday shed light on how little the NSA is actually doing, putting Americans at grave risk to terrorist threats at home and abroad.
“I’m incredibly disappointed that we’ve allowed a program that’s supposed to be so important to our national security to be so ineptly carried out,” Corker said at the breakfast held by the Christian Science Monitor.
“I don’t think anyone in the room had any idea how miniature, non-encompassing and lacking in commitment the program is in the first place.”
Citing classification concerns, Corker was unwilling to disclose specific details of the shortcomings in the NSA surveillance program, but blamed the spy agency directly for its lack of transparency.
“I think where [the NSA’s] been additionally irresponsible is the lack of desire to explain just what the program is,” Corker said.
“Instead, there’s all these myths about what the metadata program is; lots of myths.”
Sen. Corker calls for increased surveillance by the “inept” NSA program (Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor)