The Heat discusses U.S. government surveillance measures

The Heat

A United States Court rules against the government’s controversial bulk collection of Americans’ phone records. While a domestic spying law faces an uncertain future in the U.S. Congress.

It’s a delicate balance between civil liberties, privacy and U.S. national security. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States Congress passed a wide ranging law known as the Patriot Act. Included were unprecedented measures leading to the National Security Agency collecting and storing millions of domestic phone records on a daily basis. Fast forward to earlier this month when a U.S. federal court ruled the data gathering illegal. And with key provisions of the Patriot Act set to expire at the end of the month, battle lines are being drawn in Congress over their renewal. Later we’ll talk with privacy advocates and a former U.S. national security official.

For more on the future of the Patriot Act, CCTV’s Sean Callebs provided this update.

The discussion began with these experts:

Julian Sanchez is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute, focusing on national security and intelligence surveillance.
Shahid Buttar is a constitutional lawyer and the executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee – a civil liberties advocacy group.
Over the past quarter century, Fred Fleitz, has served in various U.S. national security positions and is currently Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs with the Center for Security Policy here in Washington.

The discussion about U.S. national security and increased government surveillance in the wake of rising global terrorism continued after the break.