Pompeo calls for greater surveillance capabilities

Though some Republicans want to constrain the U.S. surveillance program because of civil liberty concerns, Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, wants to fundamentally upgrade it. Pompeo and co-author David B. Rivkin Jr. wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database.” Rivkin and Pompeo, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, argued that “legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed,” though they also called for “enhanced congressional oversight” and a “rigorous national debate about surveillance.” – Phillip Brownlee

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 6:05 PM.