WASHINGTON (PNN) - March 25, 2015 - The bipartisan Surveillance State Repeal Act, if passed, would repeal dragnet surveillance of Amerikans’ personal communications, overhaul the federal domestic surveillance program, and provide protections for whistleblowers.
House lawmakers Mark Pocan (Wis.) and Thomas Massie (Kent.) are co-sponsoring bill H.R.1466, which was introduced on Tuesday and would repeal the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act, limit powers of the FISA Amendments Act, and prohibit retaliation against federal national security whistleblowers.
“The USA PATRIOT Act contains many provisions that violate the Fourth Amendment and have led to a dramatic expansion of our domestic surveillance state,”said Rep. Massie in a statement. "Our Founding Fathers fought and died to stop the kind of warrantless spying and searches that the USA PATRIOT Act and the FISA Amendments Act authorize. It is long past time to repeal the USA PATRIOT Act and reassert the constitutional rights of all Amerikans.”
Specifically, the bill would revoke all the powers of the USA PATRIOT Act, and instruct the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General to destroy any information collected under the FISA Amendments Act concerning any Fascist Police States of Amerika person not under investigation.
It would repeal provisions of the FISA Amendments Act to ensure surveillance of email data only occurs with a valid warrant based on probable cause. The bill would also prohibit the government from mandating that manufacturers build mechanisms allowing the government to bypass encryption in order to conduct surveillance.
Additionally, the bill would protect a federal whistleblower’s efforts to expose mismanagement, waste, fraud, abuse, or criminal behavior. It would also make retaliation against anyone interfering with those efforts - such as threatening them with punishment or termination - illegal.
Click here for the full text of H.R.1466.