US Rep. Davis: Surveillance Programs Need More Oversight

Congressman Rodney Davis says there needs to be greater Congressional oversight over the nation’s surveillance programs.

The Taylorville Republican’s comments follow revelations that the National Security Agency targeted millions of phone records of Americans and the Internet activity of foreigners.

Davis said he wants to know what type of information was gathered, and for what reasons.

“There are many across this globe that want to do one thing, and that’s kill Americans and hurt our country," he said. "We have to make sure law enforcement has the tools necessary to fight those who want to kill us. However, we also need to make sure that individual liberties of innocent Americans are not infringed upon by those same processes.”

Davis said the public has a right to know that they’re protected without their privacy being violated.

"My concern is that we don’t (give) so much information to those who are supposed to be protecting us that the true information needed gets lost in a haystack,” he said.

Davis said he does not think the disclosure of the federal government’s surveillance practices will make the country less safe. Though, he added that former NSA contractor Edward Snowden should be prosecuted if he broke the law by releasing that information to the public.