An Open Letter on National Security Letters

The Center for American Progress Action Fund and coalition partners sent a letter to House and Senate leaders urging substantial reform of National Security Letters. Among the recommendations to fix problems with their current use, the coaltion calls on Congress to:

• Repeal the expansion of the power that allows the FBI to demand information about people who are not the subject of an investigation.
• Subject the power to prior judicial approval.
• Amend the statute so gag orders are imposed only on authority of the court.
• Remove and destroy information in government databases that was collected on innocent people.
• Revisit the "exigent circumstances" provisions of 18 USC 2702.
• Examine other domestic surveillance and data mining programs to determine their scope and nature.