Marco Rubio Looks to Extend Terrorist Data Collection Program

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., announced on Wednesday he was backing U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s, R-Ark., bill to ensure data is collected on terrorists for the next year. 

Cotton’s “Liberty Through Strength Act” reforms the “USA Freedom Act’s” ending of the terrorist metadata collection program until the start of 2017 when the White House can ensure the  new National Security Agency (NSA) collection system is up to par. The current program is set to expire at the start of December. 
 
“The Paris terrorist attacks remind us that no corner of the free world is safe from these savages, and it is our duty to defeat them by any means necessary,” Rubio said on Wednesday. “President Obama still has no strategy to defeat ISIL, and he has been aided and abetted in advancing his dangerously naive view of the world by politicians in both parties who have helped him gut our military and weaken critical intelligence programs to uncover and foil terrorist plots.
 
“The USA Freedom Act signed into law earlier this year left our intelligence community with fewer tools to protect the American people and needlessly created more vulnerabilities and gaps in information gathering used to prevent terrorist attacks at home and abroad,” added Rubio. “I’m joining Senator Cotton’s effort because it will provide the intelligence community one more essential tool to help law enforcement connect the dots of terrorist communications, uncover threats against the United States and our allies, and help keep terrorists out of the United States.”