Sent to CNET News.com via email from:
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Senior Policy Advisor
John McCain 2008
P.O. Box 16118
Arlington, VA 22215

Here is the bottom line: _Senator McCain supports the FISA
modernization bill passed by the Senate without qualification_.  He
believes no additional steps should be necessary to secure immunity
for the telecoms; both the 109^th and 110^th Congresses have conducted
extensive evaluation and examination of this topic and have satisfied
the public’s need for appropriate oversight; hearings
purportedly designed to ‘get to the bottom of things’
have already occurred; and neither the Administration nor the telecoms
need apologize for actions that most people, except for the ACLU and
the trial lawyers, understand were Constitutional and appropriate in
the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Senator McCain has never stated, nor does he believe that telecoms
should only receive retroactive immunity in exchange for congressional
testimony about their actions.  We do not know what lies ahead in our
nation’s fight against radical Islamic extremists, but John
McCain will do everything he can to protect Americans from such
threats, including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance to
collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as
authorized by Article II of the Constitution.

As you know, the FISA modernization legislation passed by the Senate
earlier this year sets forth clear guidelines authorizing the Attorney
General and the Director of National Intelligence to direct a telecom
company to immediately provide the government with all information
necessary to protect Americans from foreign threats and outlines legal
procedures with respect to any challenges of this authority.
Additionally, the bill requires the Attorney General and the Director
to assess compliance of the intelligence community with minimization
techniques.  These types of /modernization provisions /placed in the
bill are the “clear guidelines” and “vetting
processes” I stated that Senator McCain, like a majority of
his colleagues, supports.

Senator McCain believes that the Democrats’ reckless delay in
passing a FISA modernization bill is unnecessarily risking our
national security and dangerously restricts the vital efforts of our
intelligence community.