Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)
The man who represents Chautauqua County in Congress says more oversight is needed when it comes the government’s surveillance of phone traffic.
During his weekly media conference Call, WRFA asked Congressman Tom Reed about the leak in the National Security Administration which focused on the NSA being given access to the phone and internet records of millions of Americans. Reed said he understands why the federal government wanted access to the information, but felt more oversight is needed.
“I think what we need to do is focus on the scope of the program; make sure the due process requirements that we have fought for the last couple of years in the National Defense Authorization Act renewals [remain in place],” Reed said, adding, “to make sure that there is an oversight independent group in congress and also the courts that have access to the information so that we don’t have a fishing expedition going on, but rather what we have is indications of a threat and the tools are developed to protect our privacy, but at the same time minimize those threats to our safety, as much as possible.”
Reed also offered some thoughts on Edward Snowden – the former NSA agent who claims to have leaked to the press the information. He said that while he’ll hold off on thoughts on how the U.S. Government should punish Snowden, Reed does feel he did not follow proper procedure and bringing this issue to light.
“The issue that I have with the individual who leaked this is there are mechanisms, from my understanding, where a whistle blower can step forward through the inspector general’s office, through internal government procedures as well as courts to highlight potential abuses that are there,” Reed explained. “By releasing just a top-to-bottom type of detailed set of material that this individual leaked, that could cause some serious damage to legitimate and lawful intelligence gathering activities that are out there.”
At last report, Snowden was currently overseas in Hong Kong. The U.S. Government is currently working to extradite him to bring him back to the country for prosecution.
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