Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Secret Law
Senators: End Secret Law
Washington, DC - Today, Oregon's Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), accompanied by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mark Begich (D-AK), Al Franken (D-MN), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), introduced a bill that would put an end to the "secret law" governing controversial government surveillance programs. This bill would require the Attorney General to declassify significant Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinions, allowing Americans to … Continue Reading
June 07, 2013
Wyden, Udall Question the Value and Efficacy of Phone Records Collection in Stopping Attacks
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) issued the following joint statement challenging claims that bulk phone record collection by the Intelligence Community has been "a critical tool in protecting the nation." Wyden and Udall are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "In our capacity as members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, we have spent years examining the intelligence collection operations that have been secretly authorized … Continue Reading
June 06, 2013
Wyden Statement on Alleged Large-Scale Collection of Phone Records
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), released this statement following news reports alleging that the U.S. Government has collected the phone records of millions of Verizon customers. Wyden is a senior member of the Senate Intelligence committee. "The program Senators Feinstein and Chambliss publicly referred to today is one that I have been concerned about for years. I am barred by Senate rules from commenting on some of the details at this time. However, I believe that … Continue Reading
May 23, 2013
Wyden Statement on the President’s Speech at the National Defense University
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) issued the following statement in response to President Obama's counterterrorism speech at the National Defense University: "The President said today that 'we must define the nature and scope' of the conflict with al-Qa'ida, 'or else it will define us.' I couldn't agree more. In my twelve years on the Senate Intelligence Committee I have seen the consequences of letting this struggle define the United States. The President's speech today was … Continue Reading
May 15, 2013
Wyden Statement on the Government Acquisition of AP Phone Records
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released the following statement in response to press reports about government collection of the Associated Press' phone records. Wyden, a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has long been a staunch advocate for press freedom. "I am very troubled by the recent reports of the government acquiring large amounts of the Associated Press' phone records. The breadth of these subpoenas raises serious questions about how … Continue Reading
February 05, 2013
Wyden Statement on DOJ Memo on the Killing of Americans During Counterterrorism Operations
Washington, D.C. - US Senator Ron Wyden, a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, made the following statement today regarding a Justice Department paper entitled "Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Against a U.S. Citizen Who Is a Senior Operational Leader of Al-Qa'ida or An Associated Force" which was made public yesterday by NBC News: "As I and ten other senators told the President yesterday, if individual Americans choose to take up arms against the United States, … Continue Reading
February 04, 2013
Bipartisan Group of Senators Seeks Legal Justifications for the Deliberate Killing of Americans
Washington, D.C. - As the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence prepares to consider White House national security official John Brennan's nomination to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Al Franken (D- Minn.) have sent a letter to … Continue Reading
January 14, 2013
Wyden Letter to CIA Director-nominee Brennan Seeks Legal Opinions on Killing of Americans
Washington, D.C. - With the confirmation process for Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency set to be begin shortly, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is asking Brennan to provide Congress with the secret legal opinions outlining the government's ability to target and kill Americans believed to be involved in terrorism. In a letter to Brennan sent today, Wyden reiterated his … Continue Reading
July 26, 2012
Senators Seek Answers from DNI on How Many of Americans’ Communications Have Been Monitored
Washington, D.C. - As the U.S. Senate debates the renewal of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, a letter from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and a bipartisan group of legislators including Mark Udall (D-Colo.) Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Mike Lee (R- Utah), Bernie Sanders (I-VT.), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Il.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) requests more information about the number of Americans' communications … Continue Reading
June 11, 2012
Wyden Places Hold on FISA Amendments Act Extension
Washington, D.C. - Continuing his career-long practice of publicly announcing his holds on legislation, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), announced that he will block unanimous consent requests to pass a five-year extension of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA). Wyden identified two specific concerns that he believes Congress must address before agreeing to a long-term extension of FAA's authorities. The first … Continue Reading
August 02, 2011
Wyden Places Hold on Effort to Extend FISA Amendments Act Authorities
Washington, D.C. - Inserting a statement in today's Congressional Record, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, announced that he will object to any request to pass the recently reported Intelligence Authorization bill by unanimous consent due to the legislation's inclusion of a three year extension of FISA Amendments Act (FAA) surveillance authorities. "As most of my colleagues remember, Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act in … Continue Reading
July 14, 2011
Wyden and Udall Call for Informed Debate of Domestic Surveillance Law
Washington, D.C. - Congress has until late 2012 to extend the FISA Amendments Act of 2008's expiring new authorities and U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Col.) say Congress should use the time to thoroughly consider how the law has been interpreted and implemented. In a letter to the Director of National Intelligence, Wyden and Udall -- both members of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence - state: "We believe that the debate over these initiatives will be better … Continue Reading
May 25, 2011
Amendment Requires Government to End Practice of Secretly Interpreting Law
Washington, D.C. - As the Senate prepares to approve a four-year extension of the Patriot Act without public debate about how the executive branch actually interprets controversial provisions in the ten-year-old surveillance law, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mark Udall (D-Co.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tom Udall (D-NM) introduced an amendment to the Patriot Act reauthorization legislation to require the U.S. Attorney General to make the U.S. Government's official interpretation of the … Continue Reading
May 24, 2011
TODAY: Wyden, Udall to Hold Press Conference Call on their Concerns about Reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act
Today, Tuesday, May 24, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (OR) and Mark Udall (CO) will hold a press conference call about the proposed reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. The legislation would allow the government to continue using three controversial and wide-ranging provisions for four more years. The senators are concerned that the Senate is moving to reauthorize the legislation without debate, and that the administration has continued to refuse to declassify its legal interpretation of the … Continue Reading
February 22, 2011
Wyden Begins Effort to Amend PATRIOT Act
Washington, D.C. - As a three month extension of the USA PATRIOT Act makes its way to the President's desk, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Congress must use the newly added time to hold the "debate it has spent ten years avoiding." "Americans deserve laws that strike the best possible balance between fighting terrorism ferociously and protecting the rights and freedoms of law-abiding American citizens," Wyden said. "The … Continue Reading
