EFF's Cheat Sheet to Congress' NSA Spying Bills

The veil of secrecy around the government's illegal and unconstitutional use of both Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is being lifted. As a result, Congress has seen a flurry of legislation to try and fix the problems; however, as we've been saying since June there are far more questions than answers about the spying. And Congress must create a special investigative committee to find out the answers. Right now, the current investigations are unable to provide the American public with the information it needs.

For now, here's a quick summary of the bills in Congress drafted after the June leaks that have a chance to go forward. They try to fix Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, curtail the secret law being created by the surveillance court overseeing the spying (The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA Court), and change how the FISA Court operates. Unfortunately, there is no bill in Congress with prospects of moving forward that tackles Section 702 of FISA—the section used for PRISM.

Quick links:

Section 215 Bills:

Sen. Patrick Leahy: The FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act of 2013

Reps. John Conyers and Justin Amash: The LIBERT-E Act

Ending Secret Law:

Reps. Adam Schiff and Todd Rokita: The Ending Secret Law Act

Corporate Disclosure:

Sen. Al Franken: The Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013

Reps. Rick Larsen and Justin Amash: The Government Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013

Restructuring the FISA Court:

Sen. Richard Blumenthal: The FISA Court Reform Act of 2013 and the FISA Court Judge Selection Reform Act

Rep. Adam Schiff: The Presidential Appointment of FISA Court Judges Act

Rep. Steve Cohen: The FISA Court Accountability Act

Section 215 Bills

Here are the bills that focus on trying to fix Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act:

Senator Patrick Leahy: The FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act of 2013

Senator Leahy's bill is an overarching bill that includes language to try and stop mass spying, increase the number of reports about the spying, and publicly disclose the secret law supposedly justifying the programs. The bill makes sure a Section 215 order must include "specific and articulable facts" that the information is relevant to an investigation and the that the order "pertains to" an individual. It's a good start; however, with the released administration White Paper, the Leahy language doesn't look strong enough to stop the abusive use of Section 215. Senator Leahy has said that he will continue to refine the bill as it moves forward. This is good news as a bill from Senators Mark Udall and Ron Wyden's uses similar language.

Reps. John Conyers and Justin Amash: The LIBERT-E Act

Reps. Conyers and Amash present one of the few Section 215 fixes in the House of Representatives with the potential to move forward. Similar to Senator Leahy's bill, the bill by Reps. Conyers and Amash mandates every order include "specific and articulable facts." But the bill is also more specific: it adds that an order must "pertain only to an individual" under investigation. Other bills introduced to stop the abuse of Section 215 include bills by Rep. Dennis Ross and Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick. Both are similar to Reps. Conyers and Amash's bill, except that Rep. Fitzpatrick includes a requirement that the records sought are "material" to an investigation. Rep. Rush Holt also has a bill completely repealing Section 215 and Section 702.

Lastly, Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Zoe Lofgren have also