Representative Silvestre Reyes is a key member in the current FISA fight. Reyes is Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. His committee rejected the concept of retroactive immunity last fall, one of the three congressional committees that rejected immunity for the telecoms. He will likely be on the conference committee that hashes out how the Senate and House reconcile their two conflicted pieces of FISA legislation. With all of that in mind, it’s very heartening to see Rep. Reyes send a strongly worded letter to President Bush outlining his commitment to the rule of law and his continued opposition to retroactive immunity.

If our nation is left vulnerable in the coming months, it will not be because we don’t have enough domestic spying powers. It will be because your Administration has not done enough to defeat terrorist organizations – including al Qaeda — that have gained strength since 9/11. We do not have nearly enough linguists to translate the reams of information we currently collect. We do not have enough intelligence officers who can penetrate the hardest targets, such as al Qaeda. We have surged so many intelligence resources into Iraq that we have taken our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a result, you have allowed al Qaeda to reconstitute itself on your watch.You have also suggested that Congress must grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies. As someone who has been briefed on our most sensitive intelligence programs, I can see no argument why the future security of our country depends on whether past actions of telecommunications companies are immunized.

The issue of telecom liability should be carefully considered based on a full review of the documents that your Administration withheld from Congress for eight months. However, it is an insult to the intelligence of the American people to say that we will be vulnerable unless we grant immunity for actions that happened years ago.

Congress has not been sitting on its hands. Last November, the House passed responsible legislation to authorize the NSA to conduct surveillance of foreign terrorists and to provide clarity and legal protection to our private sector partners who assist in that surveillance.

The proper course is now to conference the House bill with the Senate bill that was passed on Tuesday. There are significant differences between these two bills and a conference, in regular order, is the appropriate mechanism to resolve the differences between these two bills. I urge you, Mr. President, to put partisanship aside and allow Republicans in Congress to arrive at a compromise that will protect America and protect our Constitution.

I, for one, do not intend to back down – not to the terrorists and not to anyone, including a President, who wants Americans to cower in fear.

We are a strong nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution. If we do that, we might as well call the terrorists and tell them that they have won. [Emphasis added]

This is a shot across the bow to President Bush and a good sign that House Democrats, unlike their colleagues in the Senate, aren’t about to give up on the rule of law just because George W. Bush and Dick Cheney asked. Well done, Mr. Reyes.

Cross posted at the CREDO Blog.