Chairman Chaffetz was an enthusiastic supporter of the 'USA Freedom Act,' designed to rein in the allegedly renegade NSA and its wanton depredations of American privacy.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
NSA is a very conservative culture legally. Our lawyers at NSA were notorious for their conservatism up through the morning of September 11th, 2001. The single most consistent criticism of the NSA legal office by our congressional oversight committee was that our legal office was too conservative.
I respect the Congress's oversight responsibility.
I am a deeply committed conservative who wants to keep maximal privacy for every U.S. citizen.
There's a long history of private-company cooperation with the NSA that dates back to at least the 1970s.
The Internet's distinct configuration may have facilitated anonymous threats, copyright infringement, and cyberattacks, but it has also kindled the flame of freedom in ways that the framers of the American constitution would appreciate - the Federalist papers were famously authored pseudonymously.
Americans cherish our liberty and don't want government or corporations to take away our freedoms.
We may be so eager to protect the right to dissent that we lose sight of the difference between dissent and subversion.
I'm honored to have the endorsement of FreedomWorks. I look forward to earning the individual support of the grassroots conservatives who make up the heart and soul of this organization that has done so much to promote freedom and pro-growth fiscal policies.
Mr. Chairman, on September 11, we were attacked by terrorists who took advantage of weaknesses in our border security. After infiltrating our country, the terrorists were able to conceal their real identities, and thereby plot their attacks without fear of being apprehended.
We need to protect the privacy rights of all Americans, and that means stopping the federal government from spying on the cellphones and emails of law-abiding citizens.
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