For Immediate Release Contact: Allison Getty
February 11, 2014 202-225-7690
allison.getty@mail.house.gov
Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Ranking Member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement regarding the bill to cut NSA’s utilities, introduced by eight Members of the Maryland House of Delegates.
“The bill to cut the NSA’s utilities, introduced by eight Members of the Maryland House of Delegates, is unnecessarily punitive and ill-informed. The recent intelligence leaks have provoked an impassioned debate among the public about our country’s national security programs. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the programs leaked have been authorized by Congress and approved by the Courts. The NSA is not guilty of any wrongdoing. Much of what has been leaked has been mischaracterized and manipulated.
It is bad enough that Edward Snowden has demonized the NSA, but for Maryland lawmakers to degrade their own constituents and threaten so many Maryland jobs is unconscionable.
I understand that the leaks have caused the American public to question and even distrust the government’s counterterrorism efforts. This is a problem because our country’s national security programs are vital to protecting the safety of our country. I believe that we must work to enhance transparency and privacy protections, in an effort to establish public trust in these important programs.
The men and women at NSA are working hard around the clock to protect our country. Threatening their access to utilities is misguided. Maryland lawmakers have much bigger problems to be addressing than devising an unwarranted punishment for an agency, located in the state of Maryland, that is working to protect our country.”
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