Intelligence committee withheld key file before critical NSA vote
Intelligence committee withheld key file before critical NSA vote, Amash claims
Republican who led Congress revolt against surveillance insists members did not see document before 2011 Patriot Act vote
Intelligence committee withheld key file before critical NSA vote, Amash claims
A leader of the US congressional insurrection against the National Security Agency's bulk surveillance programs has accused his colleagues of withholding a key document from the House of Representatives before a critical surveillance vote.
Justin Amash, the Michigan Republican whose effort to defund the NSA's mass phone-records collection exposed deep congressional discomfort with domestic spying, said the House intelligence committee never allowed legislators outside the panel to see a 2011 document that described the surveillance in vague terms.
The document, a classified summary of the bulk phone records collection effort justified under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, was declassified by the Obama administration in late July.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/12/intelligence-committee-nsa-vote-justin-amash