Heather Wilson

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. I yield to the gentleman from California

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, that is the circumstance in which we find ourselves, and it is a tragic one because I think people ignore problems until there is a crisis and then they say, Why didn't you do something? Why didn't you fix it when you knew there was a problem? I pray that we will never have to have another 9/11 Commission. We passed a 9/11 Commission bill last week that had the remaining elements of pieces of legislation we have been working on for 5 years, and in it we didn't take care of the most pressing problem that is squarely in our lap, which is that we know that technology has outpaced the law. Now, there have been amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance law since 1978, but the basic structure of the law and the problem has not changed, which is if you touch a wire in the United States, you have got to get a warrant. That is the irony here. We are taking tremendous risks overseas to keep this country safe and to spy on our enemies. But we are tying our hands when we own the infrastructure. They are using the communications systems that we built, as the greatest country in the world, to plot and plan and target to kill us, and this body will do nothing about it. We have 4 days, 4 days, until we are out of town for another month, another month being deaf and blind in a time of heightened threat. I would ask my colleagues to defeat the previous question on the rule, to vote ``no'' on the previous question on the rule, and to immediately take up this critical piece of legislation so that we can protect this country

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. If the previous question is defeated, we will bring to the floor immediately a bill to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Director McConnell, the Director for National Intelligence, put it very simply in a letter last week. He said, ``Simply put, in a significant number of cases, we are in a position of having to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets located overseas.'' We are tying ourselves up in red tape here at home not using our intelligence capabilities to protect our country. This is an urgent issue. He has described an intelligence gap that is tying our hands. If the previous question is defeated, I will offer immediate legislation to close this intelligence gap.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. I am aware of specific cases, I think all of us, particularly in the leadership in the House, Democrat and Republican, as well as members of the Intelligence Committee, Democrat and Republican, are aware of the continuing intelligence gap that is putting us at risk in ways that we don't even know about. But I am aware of specific cases where American lives have been put at risk.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to vote against the rule for the consideration of this conference report. And if the rule is defeated, this House should turn its immediate attention to a critical problem facing this country. We have the perfect opportunity here, and the conferees had a perfect opportunity to add the most important action that this Congress must take, before we leave in August, into this conference report, and that is critical reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The problem is what this bill does not do. It is the perfect vehicle, the perfect train leaving the station to get a bill down to the President and get his signature immediately on foreign intelligence surveillance reform. But it's going to go to the President without the most critical piece of legislation that we should be working on. This is our responsibility, to fix the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Just yesterday, the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, wrote to the members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and in his letter he said, ``Simply put, in a significant number of cases, we are in a position of having to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets located overseas.'' He went on to say, ``in short, resource allocation is not the fundamental issue we face in this area, but instead a fundamental problem with a law that requires modification to ensure we are protecting America, while respecting the privacy rights of Americans.'' ``It is essential,'' he said, ``that the administration and Congress work together and without delay to close the current intelligence gap by amending the FISA statute.'' The responsibility is here in this body to fix this law as quickly as possible, without delay, to make sure that we can listen to foreigners in foreign countries who are using our communications networks to plot to kill us. This House has failed to act. I, again, call on the leadership of the Democratic Party and to the Speaker of the House, personally, before we adjourn for August, to bring FISA reform legislation to this floor, and I would ask my colleagues to oppose the rule.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, if the previous question is defeated today, we will offer an immediate amendment to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The reform is very, very simple. It doesn't affect most programs, but all it does is say that you do not need a warrant to listen to foreign communications by foreigners who are in foreign countries. That is all it says. But it is critical that we make this change, and it is critical that we make this change immediately. I would say to my colleagues and to those Members of congressional staffs who are monitoring the proceedings on the floor here today, I have served in this Congress for 9 years. I served as a United States Air Force officer for 7 years and on the national security staff at the White House for 2. In my 9 years in the Congress, I have never been more concerned about Congress's failure to act than I am today. This is absolutely critical to the country to fix, and the only people that can fix it are Members of the United States Congress. We cannot work around this law. We have to fix this law, and it is squarely in our laps to fix it. The leadership on both sides of the aisle and the Committee on Intelligence on both sides of the aisle have been briefed in detail about the problems our intelligence community is facing, that we have blinded them and forced them to stick their fingers in their ears because of anomalies in technology that have changed faster than we have been willing to change the law. And every one of us knows that it has already imperiled American lives. And yet this House sits here and does nothing, absolutely nothing, when we know that lives are at risk. We must allow our intelligence agencies to monitor terrorist communications without a warrant in the United States when they are listening to foreign communications. How the heck did we get ourselves in this place in the first place? In 1978, almost all long-haul communications were over the air, and for foreign intelligence collection, you didn't need a warrant; almost all short-haul communications, local calls, were over a wire, and you did. Now, because the technology has changed, the situation is completely reversed. Almost all local calls are over the air. There are 230 million cell phones in this country. But that is not where the foreign intelligence is. Now almost all long-haul communications are over a wire, and we are forcing our intelligence agencies to go to judges to get probable cause on some terrorist who is overseas communicating with another terrorist overseas just because the point of the wiretap is in the United States. This is stupid and it is imperiling American lives. The danger is very serious. The Director of National Intelligence, Mr. McConnell, testified in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee recently that ``We are actually missing a significant portion of what we should be getting.'' We all remember where we were the morning of 9/11. We remember whom we were with, what we were wearing, what we had for breakfast. But I wager nobody in this room remembers where they were when the British Government arrested 16 terrorists who were within 48 hours of walking onto airliners at Heathrow and blowing them up over the Atlantic. That happened a year ago in August. Within 48 hours, they were within 48 hours, and the tragedy would have been greater than on 9/11. It didn't happen and you don't remember it because American, British, and Pakistani intelligence detected the plot before it was carried out. I have pleaded with my colleagues on the Intelligence Committee and with the leadership on both sides of the aisle in this House, and I pray to God that we will not need another 9/11 Commission after another national tragedy and they will be looking back and saying, Why didn't the Congress do something? They knew and they failed to act. Today you have an opportunity to insist that this body act because we do know we are failing to protect this country. I would urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question and to immediately consider amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. For those of you sitting in your offices tonight, and for those staff members who are watching this debate, I'd like you to listen real carefully to what I have to say because I think it's important, probably more important than many of the things that we do around here. We are going to have a vote tonight on the previous question on this rule. And if the previous question is defeated, I will immediately bring to the floor an amendment that will update important elements of the foreign intelligence surveillance law. On May 1, in an unclassified session in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Admiral Mike McConnell, who's the Director of National Intelligence, urged the Congress to modernize this law. And he said this: ``We are actually missing a significant portion of what we should be getting.'' And today the Attorney General of the United States wrote to the Congress and said that merely adding resources will not solve the critical problem that we face. We are providing protections to foreign targets overseas. The law in this country should not require a warrant to use our communications systems to protect this country, and the irony is that is exactly what we're doing. Terrorists who are trying to kill Americans are using our communications networks, and we are forcing our intelligence agency to jump through hoops and get warrants to listen to foreigners in foreign countries communicating with each other. We must update this law to protect Americans. Intelligence is our first line of defense in the war on terrorism. The administration has told us it is critical. The Members, Democrat and Republican, in the intelligence committees know that I'm telling the truth, and the leadership, both Democrat and Republican, know the same thing. I would urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question, to immediately change these laws, and to protect Americans from terrorist attack.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. In its present form, I am.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Point of Order

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, was I not recognized to explain my motion to recommit?

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. May I speak on the point of order, Mr. Speaker?

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I wish to be heard on the point of order.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This motion to recommit would do one very simple and vital thing that is critical to the security of this country, more critical than the underlying resolution itself, and I am begging you and pleading with you to take up this issue. The motion to recommit would do a very simple thing. It would say that the United States can listen to phone conversations of terrorists overseas without a warrant. Why does that matter? It matters because intelligence is the first line of defense in the war on terror, and we are now knowingly operating with our fingers in our ears and our hands over our eyes. Recent testimony in front of this Congress by Director McConnell----

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am addressing the point of order and why it is germane, and I think that that's important for this House to understand, and I will continue with my explanation.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. My remarks will be confined to the importance of the point of order and its germaneness. Director of National Intelligence McConnell recently said in testimony to this House that we are actually missing a significant portion of what we should be getting. That is true not only in Iraq and Afghanistan but for the war on terror in its whole. This is critical to the security of this country.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is what I am attempting to do. The question in the point of order has to do with germaneness and the relevance of my motion to recommit to the underlying bill with respect to the Iraq resolution. That is what I'm trying to explain to the House. If my colleague from Missouri would give me a little latitude, I will continue to explain.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a responsibility in this House to do things that matter, the things that are in our lap and our responsibility. There is something squarely in the lap of this House, and it is our responsibility to deal with the national security matters at hand. We all remember where we were on the morning of 9/11 and what we were doing, who we were with.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would wish to proceed.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. The question of germaneness is very important here. The reality is that this underlying bill deals with an issue of national security vital to this country, and the most important vital issue that this body must deal with today is to make sure we have the ability to listen to our enemies. That is the first line of defense in the war on terror, and that is what we are willfully ignoring. I would urge my colleagues to vote for the motion to recommit, and if this point of order is sustained, I would ask my colleagues to vote to challenge the ruling of the Chair.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I move to appeal the ruling of the Chair.

Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.