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Fact Sheet: Retroactive Liability Protection: Providing Our Intelligence
Officials the Tools They Need to Keep Our Nation Safe
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary June 26, 2008

Fact Sheet: Retroactive Liability Protection: Providing Our Intelligence
Officials the Tools They Need to Keep Our Nation Safe Senate Should Not
Pass Any Amendment That Would Deny Retroactive Liability Protection Or
Unnecessarily Delay Dismissal Of Costly Lawsuits For Companies That Are
Believed To Have Assisted The Government Following 9/11

ÿÿWhite House News


Today, the Senate could consider amendments that would strip or weaken the
retroactive liability protection provided by the bipartisan FISA
modernization bill that passed the House by an overwhelming vote of 293 to
129. Failure to pass the liability protection contained in the House bill
for companies that assisted our intelligence professionals after the 9/11
attacks will undermine our partnership with the private sector. Such
cooperation is essential to protecting the country from another terrorist
attack. The Senate should pass the bipartisan House legislation so our
intelligence professionals can better protect Americans from foreign
threats.

Without This Protection, Private Sector Companies Will Become Less Willing
To Cooperate With Our Intelligence Community's Efforts To Protect The
Country

Failure to provide retroactive liability protection would undermine the
private sector's willingness to cooperate with the Intelligence Community _
cooperation that is essential to protecting America. Companies may also be
less willing to assist the government in the future if they face a threat
of private lawsuits each time they are alleged to have provided assistance.
  þ 

    Providing retroactive liability protection is critical to providing our
    intelligence officials the tools they need to carry out their mission
    of protecting our homeland. The Attorney General and Director of
    National Intelligence have reported that "even prior to the expiration
    of the Protect America Act, we experienced significant difficulties in
    working with the private sector because of the continued failure to
    provide liability protection for such companies."
  þ 

    The Senate should not pass any amendment that would unnecessarily
    complicate and prolong lawsuits against companies. A major purpose of
    the retroactive liability protections in the bipartisan House bill is
    to provide for the expeditious dismissal of lawsuits once the Attorney
    General certifies, and the district court confirms, that companies
    provided assistance in response to a request from the Government. The
    Senate Intelligence Committee, in a bipartisan report, concluded that
    any companies that provided assistance acted in good faith and that
    permitting the lawsuits to continue could deter the private sector from
    providing lawful assistance to the intelligence community in the
    future.

It is unfair and unjust to threaten companies with financial ruin because
they are believed to have helped their country.Allowing these lawsuits to
continue would be unfair because any companies that assisted us after 9/11
were assured by our government that their cooperation was legal and
necessary. More than 40 such lawsuits have been filed, seeking hundreds of
billions of dollars in damages from these companies. These lawsuits are
good for class action trial lawyers, but they are terrible for the United
States.
  þ 

    Companies that assisted with the clear intention of helping to protect
    their fellow citizens should be thanked for their patriotic service,
    not subjected to multibillion-dollar lawsuits that will make them less
    willing to help in the future.

Allowing These Lawsuits To Proceed Risks Disclosure Of Highly Classified
Information Regarding The Methods Used By Our Intelligence Community To
Protect The Country From Terrorist Attack

This litigation could lead to the disclosure of state secrets and possibly
the public release of highly classified information that our enemies could
use against us.It makes no sense to give the enemy critical knowledge about
what the United States is doing to protect the American people. But this is
what could happen if the Senate allows massive and costly class-action
lawsuits to proceed, which would increase the risk of revealing the methods
used by our Intelligence Community to monitor foreign terrorist
communications.
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