Ka`u News Briefs Monday, May 22, 2017

PROTECTIONS ON AMERICANS' PRIVACY are proposed by Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Republican Rep. Scott Perry. Both founding members of the Fourth Amendment Caucus, they introduced legislation today to permanently codify privacy protection. Last month, the

Peggy Kilkenny's Ka'u Coffee Trei Chicken Sushi Cake.  Photo by Julia Neal

     NSA announced it is ending its collection of Americans' Internet communications that merely mention identifying terms for foreign targets, but are not to or from those targets, also known as "about" surveillance. The legislation introduced today would permanently codify this policy change into law. Gabbard and Perry, both veterans of the Iraq War, also co-chair the Post 9/11 Veterans Caucus.
     Said Gabbard, "For years, the NSA has been collecting phone and online communications from everyday Americans across the country, defying the rights and liberties granted to us under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. The 2008 FISA Amendments, specifically Section 702, has led to massive government-led exploitation of personal privacy through the collection of American citizens' emails. We need serious reforms that balance the protection of our civil liberties and rights through our constitution, and also keep the American people safe. The NSA recently announced that they would stop collecting our emails and electronic communications under Section 702, but what is to say that it won't start up again? Our legislation will keep our country from backtracking on this progress by permanently codifying this policy change and banning this privacy-invading collection from taking place again."
     Said Perry, “The NSA recently changed policy to prohibit the collection of electronic communications sent or received by American citizens that merely mention a foreign target of surveillance. This practice has long been used as an end-around the Fourth Amendment, and we commend the NSA for aligning their collection efforts with the Constitution. The legislation ensures that this important win for the American people cannot be reversed under future administrations. I thank Congresswoman Gabbard for her continued efforts on this issue and look forward to seeing this bill move quickly.”

     PUC Chair Randy Iwase welcomed Griffin back to the commission, saying that the PUC has many major issues to handle, including electric rate cases and renewable energy projects. “They’re going to take a lot of work,” he said, adding that Griffin will be a great asset.
     Griffin attended Duke University and graduated in December 2000 with two degrees - a Masters in Environmental Management and a Masters in Public Policy. In 2001 he hired on as a session staff member for Mina Morita of Kauai, who was a State Representative at the time. Griffin also worked as an intern for her in 2003. He became a conservation organizer for the Sierra Club Hawai’i Chapter in 2001. In 2002 he was a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, before becoming an energy policy analyst at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA. At Rand, Griffin worked on a strategic energy plan for Israel’s natural gas sector and an assessment of a nationwide renewable portfolio standard  for the U.S. Improving Cost-Effectiveness and Mitigating Risks of Renewable Energy Requirements.
Griffin received a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School. His wrote his thesis on “
     In 2009 Griffin became an Assistant Specialist at the Hawai`i Natural Energy Institute, working on research projects analyzing the integration of renewable energy sources into electricity grids, energy policy, and energy-economic modeling.