Rubio Campaign Press Release - READ: These Three Young Conservative Senators Get exactly What We Need to Do to Keep America Safe

December 11, 2015

Today, Marco joined with Senators Joni Ernst and Tom Cotton to call for restoring the intelligence programs that expired just last week.

In Independent Journal, they write:

Now, more than ever, we need the intelligence gathering tools necessary to uncover plots and identify our enemies. That is why we are sponsoring the Liberty Through Strength Act II—legislation that will give our intelligence community the capability to protect the American people.

Earlier this year, President Obama unfortunately pushed for and Congress passed the "USA FREEDOM Act," which greatly curtailed the ability of our intelligence professionals to identify and track terrorist communications. Many voted for this flawed bill because at the time, it was the only alternative to a complete expiration of important terrorist surveillance tools. However, doing so greatly compromised other programs that are vital to our fight against radical Islamic terrorism.

Worse, it wasn't  just President Obama and Congress —  some Republicans joined in with that effort to weaken our defenses.

These programs, such as the "metadata" program, don't involve snooping on Americans, no matter what you've heard:

By definition, metadata are non-content data. Metadata consist of phone numbers dialed, as well as the date and duration of calls, not the calls themselves nor even the names associated with the calls. The metadata program was useful not because it allowed the intelligence community to listen in on conversations, which was not possible under this program, but because it allowed the NSA to connect the dots. Searching for the number of a suspect reveals the phone numbers the suspect called and when, and the numbers which those people called. This allowed the government to map terrorist networks. The actual identity of the individuals are not known until after the numbers were passed to the FBI, who in turn uses its normal investigative processes for identification.

The metadata collected by the NSA were also far less sensitive and extensive than the information that supermarkets, Internet and credit card companies, and others in the private sector collect on Americans on a daily basis. The metadata program placed stringent privacy controls on the use of this data. Any official that failed to follow the law was subject to discipline and prosecution, but there was not a single documented case of intentional abuse of the program during its entire existence.

Marco, along with conservative allies like Senator Ernst and Senator Cotton, is going to keep fighting to restore these crucial capabilities — we need them now more than ever.