After Attending President Obama’s Speech On NSA Surveillance And The FISA Court, Blumenthal Reacts To Proposed Reforms

(Washington, DC) – After attending President Obama’s speech on NSA surveillance and the FISA Courts, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today reacted to the commander-in-chief’s proposed reforms.

“The President was stronger on principle than prescription. The President’s reform blueprint, while bold and courageous, is a first step – leaving a lot of work to be done. The President was eloquent and inspiring in setting a new direction, and showing that we can protect privacy and preserve national security. Now the work for Congress will be to provide precision and details that enable effective intelligence but prevent government overreach in collecting telephone data or other surveillance. I especially welcome the President’s emphasis on reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court process, which would provide more transparency for FISA Court rulings, and an independent privacy advocate, as I have proposed and urged. I will continue to seek an independent robust constitutional advocate – a full-time protector of privacy.”