Libertarian groups press Sen McConnell on surveillance reform

A group of conservative and libertarian groups sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) opposing his proposal to reauthorize portions of the Patriot Act without attaching surveillance reform. The coalition said avoiding reform would leave Congress “subordinate to the administration’s creative reinterpretation” of the law. "Today’s domestic surveillance programs are just the tip of the iceberg compared to how the [National Security Agency] could use its current authority to spy on Americans’ communications on the Internet and future technologies we haven’t even imagined,” the group wrote in the letter to Majority Leader McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

The letter was signed by 13 groups, including TechFreedom, R Street Institute, FreedomWorks and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The letter advised the Senate “not to renew the expiring Patriot provisions, especially Section 215, without significant reform.” They argued the domestic surveillance program violates constitutional values, has proven costly and unnecessary, and hurts US technology business abroad.