Boehner Letter: "We Must Modernize Our Laws So We Can Continue Listening to Terrorists Plotting Against Us"
Dear Friend,
I’d like to share with you a frightening sentence from today’s Columbus Dispatch: “Nuradin Abdi smiled and laughed with his attorney before admitting in a federal court yesterday that he had worked with terrorists to help plot against the United States .” Abdi plotted with others to blow up a mall in the Columbus area, possibly at Christmas. But federal agents thankfully were able to interrupt this plot and arrest these would-be terrorists.
This is one of countless terrorist plots that we’ve stopped before a tragedy can occur, and it underscores the importance of modernizing our laws so we can continue monitoring terrorist chatter and disrupt their evil intentions.
Earlier this week, I said Congress should not adjourn for the August District Work Period until we address a critical problem limiting our ability to listen to foreign terrorists. Currently, if our intelligence networks want to listen-in on foreign-based terrorists using communication lines that may come through the U.S. , agents must obtain a warrant through what’s known as a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court. Because the law has not been updated to reflect today’s technological realities, we’re missing a wide swath of potential information that could help protect the American people. We’re forcing our intelligence personnel to get warrants to listen to people who are not Americans and are not located in America – in effect extending constitutional protections to terrorists who are bent on destroying America and everything it stands for.
If our intelligence services want to listen to someone in the United States , they have to obtain a warrant through the FISA court. That’s very clear. But extending American civil liberties to terrorists in foreign countries is excessive and misguided, particularly if it is being done at the expense of the security of our own people.
Democrats have ignored, downplayed and done everything possible to sidestep addressing this problem. It’s a matter of fact that our nation faces a heightened risk of attack from terrorists living here and living abroad.
Nuradin Abdi, who admitted to plotting to blow up a Columbus-area mall, is expected to serve 10 years in jail, after which he will be deported back to his native Somalia . Of his co-conspirators, one – an admitted member of al Qaeda – is currently serving a federal sentence for conspiring to support terrorism while the other – an American-born member of the cell – will come to trial in January 2009.
We need all the tools at our disposal to stop terrorist plots before they can turn into an attack. House Republicans are committed to ensuring that our intelligence agencies have the tools and resources necessary to keep us safe. Congress must act immediately, before its summer district work period, to ensure our laws are modernized to allow maximum security for the American people.
