Sen. Rand Paul's vehement objections to the Patriot Act and the National Security Agency (NSA) metadata program are not credible, Rep. Mike Pompeo, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, tells
Newsmax TV.
Story continues below video.
Watch Newsmax TV on
DIRECTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115.
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system –
Click Here Now
"It is a tool that has been used repeatedly and with great effect — despite what Sen. Paul has told folks — to help our intelligence committee round out their picture of terrorists," Pompeo, a Kansas Republican, said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"And what they're doing here in the United States and frankly all across the world — not just in the Middle East, but in Europe as well — they now won't have this important tool.
"They won't have the capacity to quickly gain data that says we know we have a known bad actor, who else is it that they're speaking with, and how do we make sure we have rounded up all the context of (these) terrorists?"
Pompeo said if the Senate passes a new version of the national security bill and it's signed by President Barack Obama, "our task is to immediately begin to try and get that power back for them [the NSA]."
Paul, a Kentucky Republican seeking the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, succeeded in blocking Senate renewal of the NSA's authority to collect massive amounts of data on Americans' phone calls and emails.
That stalled an agreement by Senate Republicans to debate a House bill to overhaul the NSA's handling of information. So why then did Paul filibuster the Senate and let the clock run out on the Patriot Act?
"I couldn't tell you what his motives are. I can only tell you what the upshot is. We're dark right now," Pompeo said.
"We now have our intelligence folks without the capacity to perform important post-9/11 functions and Sen. Paul's actions led very directly to this.
"Whether one collects the metadata inside government or leaves it with the phone companies, today we're in a worse situation " Pompeo said, and that "an important intelligence tool is not in the hands of the people who we are all tasking and demanding to keep us safe."
Pompeo told Steve Malzberg that more risks await Americans every day "these tools are taken away from our intelligence warriors."
The congressman was also jolted by an ABC News report on Monday that revealed undercover agents were able to smuggle mock explosives, weapons and other prohibited items through TSA checkpoints in 67 out of 70 attempts.
"Every one of us who travels through airports or through other forms of transportation sees these folks and we've all seen that these aren't the best screening processes, but to think that they catch four out of 100 at best. That's no better than random," Pompeo said.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.