Heck defends support for collecting phone records of Americans

Rep. Joe Heck on Monday defended his support for government’s ability to continue collecting the phone records of Americans even if they aren’t suspected of wrongdoing.

The decision by Heck, R-Nev., helped defeat by a 217-205 vote an amendment from Reps. Justin Amash, R-Mich., and John Conyers, D-Mich., that would have limited data collection to people who are the subject of an investigation.

“We are the ones who get the reports when a terrorist plot is thwarted by one of those programs,” said Heck, following an appearance before the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce. “And so from my perspective those tools are critical tools for keeping our nation safe.”

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., voted in favor of the amendment and won praise from the Nevada Republican Party for doing so through a statement of support from which Heck’s name was conspicuously absent.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., voted with Heck in opposition. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., was unable to vote due to a medical absence but said he would have supported the amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act.

Erin Bilbray, Heck’s likely Democratic opponent in 2014, said given what she knows as a private citizen she would have voted in favor of the amendment to restrict government data collection.

“People who are law abiding citizens should not have to worry their phone records or computer records are being monitored by the government,” Bilbray said.

The phone monitoring program and other previously secret government surveillance tactics have been the subject of intense national debate since former defense contractor employee Edward Snowden leaked evidence of their existence to the Guardian newspaper, which published the information.

The revelation contradicted testimony before Congress by National Intelligence Director James Clapper who responded “no sir” during a March hearing when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked whether the National Security Agency collects any type of data on “millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.”

Heck’s position on the issue is especially significant because he sits on the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee, which is responsible for oversight of the controversial surveillance programs.

“While it seemed very simple, it would have gutted the program,” Heck said of the one-page amendment sponsors say would have blocked the government’s authority to “hold a pool of metadata on every phone call of every American.”

He said the blanket collection of phone numbers and call data is necessary so it can be queried when the government wants to figure out who is communicating with suspected terrorists.

“You don’t know the individual is relevant until the connection is made between a terrorist and a phone call,” Heck said.

He went on to say that once a connection is made authorities need a warrant to access information about the content of a phone call.

“That is how it is done and that is how it should be done,” Heck said.

Other opponents of the restrictions in the Amash-Conyers amendment included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama and House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

But Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., has said the surveillance goes “well beyond” what Congress intended when it approved the Patriot Act in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Sensenbrenner introduced the act in October, 2001.

On Sunday Wyden criticized the secret court proceedings that issue warrants as a rubber stamp in favor of government intrusion.

“It is the most one-sided legal process in the U.S.,” Wyden was quoted speaking on CSpan. “I don’t know of any other legal system or court that doesn’t highlight anything except one point of view -- the executive point of view.”

Snowden’s revelations have prompted widespread debate about the propriety of previously secret or overlooked government surveillance. Heck stood by his characterization of the former contractor as a traitor. Bilbray said she agreed with Heck’s characterization.

“He is still a traitor,” Heck said of Snowden, who fled the country to avoid imprisonment. Heck said by leaking the information Snowden alerted terrorists to the measures the U.S. uses to thwart them.

“That means our adversaries are changing the way that they conduct business which means that we are now deaf and blind to their activities in certain respects,” Heck said.

That more Americans now see NSA activity as an unjustified intrusion than before the latest revelations doesn’t mitigate Snowden’s actions, according to Heck.

“A leak is illegal,” he said.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285 .