THE WHITE HOUSE …

                            THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary

_________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                               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

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.

Ø      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."

Ø      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.

Ø      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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