Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, wading into a key debate before Congress, said Sunday the government should get a warrant before it snoops on email and phone calls or collects wide swaths of call data.
Mr. Huckabee said the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk collection of phone data and far-reaching spying powers appear to override the “fundamental” balance of powers between governmental branches. The executive branch should have probable cause before it snoops on Americans, he told “Fox News Sunday.”
Plus, government reports say the secret bulk collection program disclosed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden hasn’t had a direct effect on protecting the homeland.
“If this is so effective, why hasn’t it been connected to the foiling of terrorist plots?” Mr. Huckabee asked Fox’s Chris Wallace.
Just how much data the government is entitled to is the source of a standoff in the Senate. The chamber broke for its Memorial Day recess early Saturday facing a June 1 deadline to extend the NSA’s phone-snooping program and end all bulk data collection.
That’s when three key provisions of the law expire: carrying wiretaps against suspected terrorists from phone to phone, designating terrorists as “lone wolf” actors if they don’t belong to a particular organization, and compelling businesses to turn over records they hold on Americans.
That third provision, contained in Section 215 of the Patriot Act, has proved controversial, particularly as interpreted by the Bush and Obama administrations, which have argued it means that they can collect records on all Americans, such as their phone metadata.
The majority of senators supported the USA Freedom Act, which would have extended all of the Patriot Act’s powers, though it would have ruled out bulk collection under Section 215, instead limiting data gathering to specific individuals or groups.
President Obama, who previously had defended the NSA’s bulk snooping, has now embraced changes, and on Friday the White House lashed out at GOP leaders for failing to back the USA Freedom Act or to devise an acceptable alternative.
The Senate has deadlocked even though the House approved the USA Freedom Act earlier this month in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 338-88 vote.
Mr. Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said the calculus is simple: Does the Constitution allow the government to read people’s mail or document everyone’s phone calls?
“I think the obvious answer is no, it does not,” he said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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