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In the coming weeks, the Senate is expected to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This bill governs the way that intelligence is gathered by US agencies. Remedies are needed in FISA reauthorization in order to restore the balance between security and civil liberties. This balance was crippled by unauthorized wiretapping programs sanctioned exclusively by the executive branch, and by the previous version of FISA which stripped Americans of important civil liberties and freedoms.

Two versions have passed two Senate committees, and now the Senate must decide which version to pass. One version, from the Senate Intelligence Committee, grants ever-expanding authority and power to the executive branch, does not demand individual warrants for each American to be wiretapped, and exempts telecommunication companies from culpability in their compliance with previous illegal wiretapping schemes. But another version, passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, protects our civil liberties by demanding warrants, restoring the constitutional check on presidential power, and holding telecommunication companies accountable.