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Susan Collins on Homeland Security

Republican Jr Senator (ME)

 


Increase transparency of NSA but keep NSA programs

Bellows is campaigning on repeal of the U.S. Patriot Act and wants to severely curb the National Security Agency's bulk data collection program--two issues that resonate with the left wing of the Democratic Party as well as libertarian-minded voters who propped up Ron Paul's strong showing in the 2012 presidential caucuses there.

"What I think we need is targeting based on individualized suspicion, reasonable suspicion that people are engaged in criminal or terrorist activity," she says in response to a question about what she thinks the NSA should be able to monitor.

Collins, seeking her fourth term, supports reforms to improve transparency and accountability but would not curtail the program to the extent Bellows wants to. "As we increase transparency and erect further barriers to intelligence collection, we must be careful that we do not put our country at greater risk of attack," she said in a statement last month.

Source: U.S.News & World Report on 2014 Maine Senate race , Feb 27, 2014

Mass surveillance justified by national security

Susan Collins has supported warrantless mass surveillance. Over the last seven months, the curtain has been ripped down around the covert mass spying operation.

Thanks to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, we now know that the US government has taken unprecedented (and, according to 2 federal judges, unconstitutional) actions to invade our privacy & restrict our freedom.

We learned that the NSA collects a record of virtually every phone call, email, & instant message in the US--who people contact, when, for how long and where they are.

According to Collins, she was never informed about the bulk collection of information on Americans, despite being the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee. Many politicians, perhaps conscious of not seeming soft on national security, have attacked Snowden personally or have argued that the security ends have justified the mass surveillance means. Collins, now that she has been informed about the programs, has done both.

Source: Portland Press Herald on 2014 Maine Senate race , Jan 4, 2014

Mass unwarranted surveillance is never justified

Thanks to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, we now know that the US government has taken unprecedented (and, according to 2 federal judges, unconstitutional) actions to invade our privacy & restrict our freedom. We learned that the NSA collects a record of virtually every phone call, email, & instant message in the US--who people contact, when, for how long and where they are.

According to Sen. Collins, she was never informed about the bulk collection of information on Americans, despite being the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee. Collins now attacks Snowden personally & argues that the security ends have justified the mass surveillance means.

Shenna Bellows is running against Collins and has made our freedom from unwarranted surveillance a centerpiece of her campaign. We need smart people in Congress who understand technology, who take the time to understand the intricacies of these issues and who stand up for our rights.

Source: Portland Press Herald on 2014 Maine Senate race , Jan 4, 2014

No justification for spying on Germany's chancellor

Bellows calls out Congress for NSA complicity, amid reported US spying on world leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel. Among the critics of surveiling Merkel was Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who's chaired the Homeland Security Committee and now serves on the Intelligence Committee.

Q: Sen. Collins put out a statement saying that she's not aware of a justification for collecting intelligence on Chancellor Merkel, and that she would be telling the German ambassador that "it was wrong" for the administration to do that.

BELLOWS: We absolutely need to stop listening in on phone calls of allies like Merkel. But we also need to stop spying on millions of Americans.

Q: What about the comparative attention that those two kinds of surveillance get?

BELLOWS: It's certainly concerning to international relations to learn that we were spying on the phone conversations of some of our closest allies. But it's equally important to address the issue of spying on millions of ordinary Americans.

Source: Salon.com on 2014 Maine Senate debate, "Snowden" , Oct 30, 2013

Cuts in defense are very troubling to me personally

Q: A poll asked, "Would you vote to defeat and replace every member of Congress including your representative if you could?" 60% said, "Yes, I would."

COLLINS: There's a lot of justifiable anger at Congress and at the president for failing to solve these [government shutdown and budget] problems. But I do want to say that despite what people may read, there are a lot of constructive discussions going on behind the scenes.

Q: Any kind of budget deal?

COLLINS: There could be a substitution of some of the mandatory spending cuts--such as the farm bill which would save $23 billion over ten years-- for some of the cuts in defense and biomedical research that are very troubling to me personally.

Source: CNN SOTU 2013 interview on 2014 Maine Senate race , Oct 13, 2013

Treating terrorists as criminals prevents obtaining info

I don't see any reason to continue giving Miranda rights to foreign terrorists, as we did to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be bomber of Flight 253. As Senators Collins and Lieberman wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder, the decision to treat Abdulmutallab as an ordinary criminal "almost certainly prevented the military and the intelligence community from obtaining information that would have been critical to learning more about how our enemy operates and to preventing future attacks." This is just common sense; intelligence is our first line of defense in war. That's why I voted in Congress to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) so the president and the attorney general could authorize electronic surveillance of foreign agents without a court order. Extending full legal protections to foreign terrorists will simply mean more dead Americans.
Source: Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal, p.250 , Nov 15, 2010

Small business in developing homeland security technologies.

Collins co-sponsored a resolution on small businesses

Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) small business participation is vital to U.S. defense and should play an active role in assisting the military, Federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and State and local police to combat terrorism through the design and development of innovative products; and (2) Federal, State, and local governments should aggressively seek out and purchase innovative technologies and services from, and promote research opportunities for, American small businesses to help in homeland defense and the fight against terrorism. Passed/agreed to in Senate.

Source: Resolution sponsored by 26 Senators 02-SR264 on May 8, 2002

Rated 0% by SANE, indicating a pro-military voting record.

Collins scores 0% by SANE on peace issues

Peace Action, the merger of The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) and The Freeze, has effectively mobilized for peace and disarmament for over forty years. As the nation`s largest grassroots peace group we get results: from the 1963 treaty to ban above ground nuclear testing, to the 1996 signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, from ending the war in Vietnam, to blocking weapons sales to human rights abusing countries. We are proof that ordinary people can change the world. At Peace Action we believe...

As the Pentagon’s budget soars to $400 billion, 17% of American children live in poverty. For what the US will spend on Missile Defense in one year we could: put over a million children through Head Start OR provide healthcare for over 3.5 million children OR create over 100,000 units of affordable housing OR hire over 160,000 elementary school teachers. At Peace Action our priorities are clear.

The ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization`s preferred position.

Source: SANE website 03n-SANE on Dec 31, 2003

Maintain role of women in armed forces in Iraq.

Collins co-sponsored maintaining role of women in armed forces in Iraq

OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY:

    Expresses the sense of Congress that:
  1. women play a critical role in accomplishing the mission of the Armed Forces; and
  2. there should be no change to existing statutes, regulations, or policy that would have the effect of decreasing the roles or positions available to women in the Armed Forces.
EXCERPTS OF RESOLUTION: Congress makes the following findings:
  1. Women have a prominent role in American military history, with involvement as far back as the American Revolution.
  2. Opportunities for servicewomen have increased dramatically since 1948, when the Women`s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 gave women a permanent place in the Armed Forces.
  3. The Department of Defense began to expand its programs on women in the Armed Forces in earnest in 1973.
  4. From 1973 to 2005, the number of women as a percentage of the total force of the Armed Forces increased from only 2.5% to approximately 17%, with more than 200,000 women currently serving in the Armed Forces.
  5. The admission of women to the service academies began in Autumn 1976 and has increased steadily so that women currently comprise approximately 16% to 19% of the incoming class each year at the service academies.
  6. The current policy excludes women units whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground.
    It is the sense of Congress that--
  1. women play a critical role in the accomplishment of the mission of the Armed Forces; and
  2. there should be no change to existing statutes, regulations, or policy that would have the effect of decreasing the roles or positions available to women in the Armed Forces.

LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Referred to Senate Committee

Source: Sense of Congress on Women in Combat (S.1134) 05-S1134 on May 26, 2005

Prohibit torture of terrorists in US custody.

Collins co-sponsored prohibiting torture of terrorists in US custody

OnTheIssues.org Explanation: This amendment would ban waterboarding at Guantanamo prison. McCain specifies several international treaties which include bans on waterboarding; and cites `regardless of physical location` to include Guantanamo. McCain cites too that this ban is nothing new; but the US has, in fact, been using waterboarding at Guantanamo.

OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: To prohibit cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of persons under the custody or control of the United States Government.

SPONSOR`S INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: Sen. McCAIN: This amendment would prohibit cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in the detention of the US Government. The amendment doesn`t sound like anything new. That is because it isn`t. The prohibition has been a longstanding principle in both law and policy in the United States. All of this seems to be common sense and in accordance with longstanding American values.

EXCERPTS OF BILL: