EFF to Burr: Listen to Constituents, End NSA Bulk Collection Programs

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., should listen to constituents who are “loud and clear that they not only want [Section 215 of the Patriot Act] to end, but that they are also incredibly dubious about the NSA’s collection practices,” wrote Electronic Frontier Foundation Legislative Analyst Mark Jaycox in a blog post Monday. Burr’s “reliance on the program being effective ignores the conclusions of two independent investigations tasked with looking at the calling records program,” Jaycox said: “The Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General have written a letter expressing the need to reform the authorities, and essentially end the current program as it currently is.” Jaycox said “if the Executive branch, the Judicial branch, and two independent commissions can't convince Senator Burr, then maybe their fellow lawmakers can.”