CNN/Salem GOP Debate: on Technology

Carly Fiorina: Companies don't need to be forced to provide data; just ask

FIORINA: Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It was because, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve, and bureaucratic processes are woefully inadequate as well. DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we know that ISIS is recruiting who are not in those databases. So of course, we're going to miss them.

Q: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI?

FIORINA: They do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked.

Donald Trump: Close our Internet up, to fight ISIS terrorist recruitment

TRUMP: ISIS is recruiting through the Internet. ISIS is using the Internet better than we are using the Internet, and it was our idea. I want to get our brilliant people from Silicon Valley and other places and figure out a way that ISIS cannot do what they're doing. You talk freedom of speech. I don't want them using our Internet to take our young, impressionable youth. We should be using our most brilliant minds to figure a way that ISIS cannot use the Internet. And then we should be able to penetrate the Internet and find out exactly where ISIS is and everything about ISIS. And we can do that if we use our good people.

Q: So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet?

TRUMP: I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I don't want to let people that want to kill us \use our Internet.

George Pataki: Bulk metadata collection for overseas terrorists

HUCKABEE: No. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective.

PATAKI: Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent 109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today.

George Pataki: Need back door access to cell phones when lives are at risk

Lindsey Graham: You're isolationist if you don't monitor calls from abroad

Marco Rubio: The NSA needs bulk metadata collection to fight terrorism

CRUZ: It did two things: #1, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens.#2, it strengthened the tools go after terrorists. The prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones.

Q [to Sen. Rubio]: You voted against it. Is Senator Cruz wrong?

RUBIO: He is. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its abilities. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that tool we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. This tool allowed the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling.

Mike Huckabee: Monitor terror on Facebook & Twitter, not Americans' phones

HUCKABEE: No. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last."

Rand Paul: We are no safer due to bulk data collection of phone records

RUBIO: Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its abilities. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that tool we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. This tool allowed the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling.

PAUL: You know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific information on terrorists. The one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino--that might have stopped 9/11--would have been stricter controls on those who came here.

Rick Santorum: Bulk metadata collection doesn't violate privacy

Ted Cruz: Target cell phones and tech that Bad Guys likely to use

CRUZ: Well, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. #1, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens.#2, it strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. The prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror.