In my interview with John Brennan, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center and an unpaid adviser to the Obama campaign, Brennan stated that he favors granting immunity to those companies that were asked to participate in covert surveillance activities after 9/11.

This position differs from Obama's. He voted to strip an immunity provision out of a bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which the Senate has passed. Obama did not vote on the final bill, which does contain an immunity provision.

Brennan deferred to the Obama campaign to articulate the Senator's current position on immunity. A spokesperson told me, "Senator Obama opposed the retroactive immunity provisions in the FISA bill, indicating that is more appropriately a decision for the Judiciary."

Labels: FISA, Law, NSA surveillance, Politics