Republican Candidate Jeff Beatty Opposes John Kerry's Vote On Protect America Legislation
February 20, 2008U.S. Senate Candidate Jeff Beatty says John Kerry fails on the “Protect America Act” and thus fails to protect U.S. citizens at home and U.S. Forces in combat.
The original Protect America Act of 2007 amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to provide additional procedures for authorizing the acquisition of certain forms of foreign intelligence information. This past week, Congress walked away from a bill to extend that capability as they went on recess. John Kerry, who currently holds Massachusetts’ Junior US Senate, voted against the new legislation.
Beatty says, “I understand Terrorist threats and have run successful operations to defeat terrorism. It is inexcusable to fail to protect our citizens and our soldiers like this. Kerry and others had the ability to pass a bill with provisions that would save lives and add to our ability to predict and defeat terrorist attacks. They did not get the job done.”
Beatty says that “for Kerry, it’s just politics, but for our citizens and soldiers, it’s personal.” Beatty calls for an immediate return to Washington by Congress to pass a Protect America Act that “allows for monitoring of all foreign communications deemed relevant in emergency situations followed by a expeditious judicial review that protects Americans from potential errors and abuses.”
“We are at war with a ruthless enemy who seeks to kill large numbers of Americans, and to fail to fully equip the “eyes and ears” of our intelligence services in those circumstances is dereliction of duty,” says Beatty. Beatty pledges that as a Senator, he will help get congressional priorities on such life and death national security issues “back on track.” Beatty is a former Delta Force Officer who went on to work as an FBI Special Agent advising the national Hostage Rescue Team, as well as a member of CIA Counter-Terrorism Officer.
