IA’s suggestions for the Bill Amending the Law on National Security Agency
The amendments bring more clarity and precision in defining competencies of the National Security Agency (NSA) and we are particularly pleased to learn that our recommendation from 2012 has been fulfilled. This recommendation stated that the provision related to “the supervision of electronic communications and postal items” should be formulated more precisely, so that it explains what the surveillance of electronic communications covers. Because of its vagueness, it was not clear whether the NSA seeks approval from the Supreme Court, for instance, to access phone records, IP addresses of Internet users, and the user’s location. It is also a good solution to restrict access to the phone records to three months, with the possibility of extension.
However, there is still room for further improvements and these amendments should be used for further standardization of the work of the NSA. On the basis of previous work in this area, we submit to the members of the Security and Defense Committee several priority issues, related to:
- destruction of data,
- internal control of the NSA,
- process of informing citizens,
- control of opinions of the NSA in the process of obtaining citizenship.
