Approved For Release 2008/09/15 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000200330014-1
DISSENTING VIEWS
The Congress should repeal the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act (FISA) (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), which requires prior judicial approval for foreign electronic surveillance, and restore the law to its
pre-FISA status in which the President, in accordance with his
powers and duties under Article II of the Constitution, held exclusive authority for electronic surveillance of foreign
powers and
their agents within the United States for foreign intelligence purposes. The President must have authority to engage in electronic
surveillance in the United States for foreign intelligence purposes
with great speed and the utmost secrecy, especially in these times
of increased danger from hostile foreign nations and from international terroists. Moreover, judges and judicial procedure are illsuited to make the determinations needed in electronic surveillance of foreign powers and their agents.
INCREASED THREAT TO SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES
Events in recent times have demonstrated the great degree to
which hostile foreign nations have accelerated their espionage ac-
tivities in the United
States.
Soviet bloc agents
active
in the
United States have acquired the secrets of an extremely sophisti-
cated, sensitive and valuable satellite system for intelligence collec-
tion and the secrets of United States ballistic missile defense efforts. Soviet bloc espionage agencies have engaged in the United
States in successful clandestine efforts to acquire sensitive technology which has important military and intelligence applications.
Hostile intelligence services have recruited disloyal United States
Intelligence personnel who have provided them with a great deal of
damaging information on United States intelligence activities. The
Soviet KGB and other Communist bloc intelligence services it controls have e
in a broad range of espionage activities within
the United
States. To combat these Soviet bloc activities which
threaten the security of the Nation, the United States must improve its counterintelligence capabilities. Onl through more aggressive counterintelligence activities can the
United States parry
the Soviet espionage
into the United States. Restoring
the
President’s exclusive authority to conduct electronic surveillance
for foreign intelligence purposes by repealing the FISA would be
an important contribution to an effective, highly secure counterintelligence effort.
In addition to the increased threat to the security of the United
States from the espionage activities of hostile foreign nations, the
United States faces a similar increased threat from terrorist activities. Forty percent of the terrorist attacks in the world in 1983
were directed at Americans. In November 1988, a powerful bomb
exploded in the U.S. Capitol and, but for the luck of an early ad(25)
Approved For Release 2008/09/15 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000200330014-1