Heaven forbid the assets will be shifted to track and monitor ISIS.
Via Defense One
A bill that would curtail the government’s broad surveillance authority is unlikely to earn a vote in Congress before the November midterms, and it might not even get a vote during the postelection lame-duck session.
The inaction amounts to another stinging setback for reform advocates, who have been agitating for legislation that would rein in the National Security Agency ever since Edward Snowden’s leaks surfaced last summer. It also deflates a sudden surge in pressure on Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act, which scored a stunning endorsement from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper last week.
The hard-fought bill has a wide array of backing from tech companies, privacy and civil-liberties groups, the White House, and even the intelligence community. But multiple sources both on and off Capitol Hill say the measure is not a top legislative priority on a jam-packed Senate calendar filled with other agenda items, including unresolved fights over a continuing resolution and the Import-Export Bank.[…]
Leahy’s offering debuted with wide fanfare, with cosponsors ranging from tea-party hero Sen. Ted Cruz to liberal stalwarts such as Sens. Edward Markey and Chuck Schumer. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has given no indication he wants to shepherd the complicated bipartisan bill through his chamber so close to the midterm elections. Reid’s office did not comment for this story, but even some reform advocates privately conceded that the political calculus to pass a bill perceived as weakening the intelligence agencies is unfavorable at a time when national security concerns are rising in the Middle East and elsewhere.