Washington, D.C. - On Thursday, House Republicans, led by President Bush, blocked a temporary extension of the Protect America Act (PAA), which Congress passed last year to provide exceptions to certain provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The 21-day extension was intended to allow time for House-Senate negotiations on proposed reforms to the law that would ensure the protection of Americans' civil liberties. Since the extension failed, the Protect America Act will expire on February 16.

The President has asserted that the expiration of the PAA will threaten our national security, but this assertion is not true. All existing surveillance orders provided pursuant to the Protect America Act will continue to be in effect, and the intelligence community still has multiple tools which can be utilized to seek authorization for surveillance and to conduct warrantless surveillance.

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