Bush Era Republicans Denounce RNC's NSA Resolution

Says the resolution includes factual errors

January 25, 2013

Reince Priebus

Chairman

Republican National Committee

300 First Street, S.E.

Washington, D.C.  20003

Dear Chairman Priebus:

As Republicans who are familiar with the threat that terrorism still poses to this country, we are compelled to dissent from the ill-considered resolution adopted by the Republican National Committee on January 24 by voice vote.

The Republican National Committee plays a vital role in political campaigns, but it has relatively little expertise in national security.  Unfortunately, that lack of expertise is on full display in the resolution. The RNC condemns "the secret surveillance program called PRISM," and claims that it "monitors [the] searching habits of virtually every American on the internet."  In fact, there is no program that monitors the searches of all Americans.  And what has become known as the PRISM program is not aimed at collecting the communications of Americans. It is targeted at the international communications of foreign persons located outside the United States and is precisely the type of foreign-targeted surveillance that Congress approved in 2008 and 2012 when it enacted and reauthorized amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.