Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Security & Liberty
Wyden Statement on FOSTA-SESTA Passing House
Washington, D.C. -Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on the House passage of FOSTA-SESTA. "History shows that politicians have been remarkably bad at solving technological problems. I have written laws in the past, including Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the Internet Tax Freedom Act, that have kept politicians and special interests from sinking the internet. This bill will only prop up the entrenched players who are rapidly losing the public's trust. … Continue Reading
February 22, 2018
Wyden, McCaskill Urge Customs and Border Protection to Turn On Anti-Forgery Features for e-Passports
Washington, D.C.-Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., ranking member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee today urged U.S. Customs and Border Protection to take basic steps to improve U.S. border security by acquiring the capability to use anti-tampering and anti-forgery features built into e-Passports. The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 required foreigners participating in the Visa Waiver Program -which permits entry into … Continue Reading
September 22, 2017
Wyden Announces Hold on Treasury Nominee over Agency’s Refusal to Provide Documents Related to Russia
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today announced he has placed a hold on the nomination of Isabel Patelunas, to serve as Assistant Secretary of Treasury. He issued the following statement: "I have placed a hold on the nominee because of the Treasury Department's refusal to provide the Senate Finance Committee with Treasury documents related to Russia," Wyden said. "The provision of these documents to the Committee is not only part of the oversight process, but is necessary if the … Continue Reading
August 01, 2017
Wyden, Bipartisan Senators Ask Justice Department to Fully Inform Judges About Stingray Impacts on Innocent Americans
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, today asked the Department of Justice to fully inform judges about the impacts of stingrays and other IMSI-catchers on innocent Americans' communications, including 911 calls. "We are concerned that the Department may not be adequately disclosing to courts important details about how stingrays work and their impact on innocent Americans," the senators wrote, in a letter … Continue Reading
July 20, 2017
Wyden Asks DOJ How Often the Government Searches for Americans’ Communications Under E.O. 12333
Washington, D.C. -Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today asked the Department of Justice a series of questions about how it uses Executive Order 12333 to conduct warrantless backdoor searches of Americans' calls, emails and other communications. Specifically, Wyden asked: How many times, in each of the calendar years 2011-2016, has the Attorney General provided this approval? Can the Intelligence Community conduct these searches "for the purpose of targeting a U.S. person or a person in the United … Continue Reading
June 07, 2017
Wyden Blasts Trump Administration for Refusal to Disclose Number of Americans Swept Up Under FISA 702, Covering up The True Impact on Innocent Americans
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., blasted Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats today for announcing that the Trump administration will not provide an estimate of how many Americans' emails, calls and other communications are swept up under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, despite the fact Congress has sought this number since 2011. View Wyden's questions here. "What the director said today is in my view a 180-degree retreat from what he said … Continue Reading
April 04, 2017
Wyden, Paul, Polis and Farenthold Bill Requires Warrants to Search Americans’ Digital Devices at the Border
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, today introduced the Protecting Data at the Border Act to ensure Americans are not forced to endure indiscriminate and suspicionless searches of their phones, laptops and other digital devices just to cross the border. The bipartisan, bicameral bill shuts down a legal Bermuda Triangle that currently allows law enforcement agencies to search Americans' phones and … Continue Reading
March 28, 2017
Wyden, Lieu Call On FCC to Address Major Security Weaknesses in Cell Phone Networks
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., today called on the Federal Communications Commission to take concrete steps to plug serious vulnerabilities in U.S. mobile phone networks, in a letter to FCC Chairman Pai. Last week a report created by experts for the FCC found that criminals, hackers and foreign countries could exploit a number of vulnerabilities in wireless phone infrastructure to track, surveil and hack Americans' phones. "The continued existence of … Continue Reading
March 15, 2017
Wyden: The Public Must Know How Many Americans Are Swept Up In Warrantless Surveillance Under FISA 702
Washington, D.C. - Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., took to the Senate floor today to call for the executive branch to finally reveal how many Americans have their phone calls, emails and other communications swept up - without warrants - under a surveillance program intended to target people overseas. Wyden has spent six years seeking how many law-abiding Americans have their calls and messages swept up under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The program expires at the end … Continue Reading
March 15, 2017
Wyden, Lieu Ask DHS To Tell Americans About Serious Security Threat to Mobile Phones
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., today urged the Department of Homeland Security to tell Americans how their security may be threatened by a vulnerability that could allow hackers and foreign governments to track, wiretap, and hack their mobile phones. "We suspect that most Americans simply have no idea how easy it is for a relatively sophisticated adversary to track their movements, tap their calls, and hack their smartphones. We are also concerned that … Continue Reading
February 20, 2017
Wyden Questions Misguided Digital Border Searches
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today asked the Department of Homeland Security to explain reports of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agents demanding access to Americans' locked phones and other digital devices when crossing the U.S. border. Wyden also asked about the department's plans to require visitors to the United States to turn over their private social medial passwords as a condition of entry. "These digital dragnet border search practices weaken our national and … Continue Reading
January 20, 2017
Senators Oppose Rushed Confirmation For CIA Nominee
WASHINGTON - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., today said they oppose a rushed confirmation of Rep. Mike Pompeo to serve as director of the Director of Central Intelligence without senators having the opportunity to debate the nomination. "No CIA Director in history has ever been confirmed on Inauguration Day. The importance of the position of CIA Director, especially in these dangerous times, demands that the nomination be thoroughly … Continue Reading
January 13, 2017
Wyden Praises Removal of “Browser Spying” and Restrictions on Privacy Watchdog from Intelligence Authorization Act
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Wyden, D-Ore., succeeded in removing two problematic provisions from the 2017 Intelligence Authorization Act, which was voted out of the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday. The first would have given the government access to Americans' browsing history, email records and other digital records without so much as a court order. The second provision would have limited the jurisdiction of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Wyden blocked the bill from … Continue Reading
January 07, 2017
Wyden Statement on Selection of Senator Coats to Serve as Director of National Intelligence
Washington, D.C. - Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released the following statement on the announcement Sen. Dan Coats will be nominated to serve as the next Director of National Intelligence: "Dan Coats has been a friend and respected colleague for years. We worked closely on bipartisan partners on tax reform, and never let our strong disagreements about surveillance and other intelligence issuesget in the way of a friendship," Wyden said. "I … Continue Reading
December 12, 2016
Wyden Calls for Preservation, Distribution and Declassification of Torture Report
Washington, D.C. - Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today renewed his call for the president to preserve, distribute and declassify the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's Study of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. He said the president's decision to establish the study as a presidential record falls far short of what's necessary. "We're going to start on the very first day of the new session building a bipartisan coalition to get the study declassified. The American people … Continue Reading
November 17, 2016
Wyden Statement on Director Clapper’s Resignation
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on the announcement of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's resignation: "During Director Clapper's tenure, senior intelligence officials engaged in a deception spree regarding mass surveillance. Top officials, officials who reported to Director Clapper, repeatedly misled the American people and even lied to them. In 2012 you saw the Director of the NSA make statements like 'we don't hold data … Continue Reading
June 27, 2016
Wyden Places Hold on Intelligence Authorization Bill that Needlessly Expands FBI surveillance, Undermines Independent Oversight
Washington, D.C. - Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today placed a hold on the 2017 Intelligence Authorization bill, over provisions that would let the FBI demand Americans' web browsing histories and other digital data without court oversight. A bipartisan coalition of senators defeated a similar FBI spying proposal in a Senate floor vote last week. Wyden was the only senator to vote against the bill in the Senate Intelligence Committee. Wyden also objects to a provision placing new restrictions … Continue Reading
June 21, 2016
Wyden Statement on Amendment to Expand Warrantless FBI Spying
Washington, D.C. -Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today slammed a new amendment that would let the FBI demand broad amounts of Americans' digital data without any court oversight. "Yesterday the Senate rejected measures that would help keep guns out of the hands of terrorists and lone gunmen. Instead, Senate Republicans are pushing fake, knee-jerk solutions that will do nothing to prevent mass shootings or terrorist attacks. Like so many other proposals this amendment is a lose-lose: It won't make … Continue Reading
June 16, 2016
Wyden Corrects the Record on Encryption Following Open Hearing with CIA Director
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement today correcting CIA Director John Brennan's inaccurate description of the foreign encryption market at today's open hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: "It is clearly inaccurate to say that foreign encryption is a 'theoretical' capability. Strong encryption technologies are available from foreign sources today - half of them of them are inexpensive and the other half are free. U.S. tech companies … Continue Reading
May 19, 2016
Wyden, Paul and Bipartisan Senators Call on Congress to Stop Massive Expansion of Government Surveillance and Hacking Power
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., today introduced the Stopping Mass Hacking (SMH) Act to protect millions of law-abiding Americans from government hacking. The Stopping Mass Hacking (SMH) Act prevents recently approved changes to Rule 41 from going into effect. The changes would allow the government to get a single warrant to hack an unlimited number of Americans' computers if their computers had been affected by criminals, possibly without notifying … Continue Reading
