As a Washington, D.C., correspondent, I shared an office with The Seattle Times on the top floor of a Capitol Hill row house behind the U.S. Supreme Court building. One afternoon in the winter of 1980, a tall, lanky candidate for Congress poked his head through the door. It was Ron Wyden, who sought to unseat Bob Duncan, the incumbent whose district was Portland and Multnomah County.

Duncan was the first among many who underestimated Wyden, who did not present Hollywood’s image of a congressman or senator. But the most essential thing to understand about the Oregon Democrat is what one of his aides told me more than a decade ago: “No one will ever outwork Ron Wyden.”

Wyden was an exceedingly active freshman U.S. House member, building a reputation for finding collaborators among Republicans. But when he moved from the House to the U.S. Senate in 1996, his vision seemed to expand.

A recurring theme in his Senate years is distrust and revulsion at the National Security Agency’s gathering data on American citizens. In 2013, he caught the eye of national media when he confronted Director of National Intelligence James Clapper during a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee. At the close of that hearing, Wyden obtained a tacit admission by Clapper that the NSA was gathering information on Americans who had no connection to terrorism.

Now, Wyden is a senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. In December, Wyden went back at it with the NSA. He placed a hold on the nomination of its new director, with the demand that the agency tell him the nature of their spying on American citizens. Prior to the holidays, the senator lifted that hold. “I lifted the hold because they responded to my questions,” he said. “There is no question in my mind that they are gathering people’s data.”

Wyden uses the Fourth Amendment as a constitutional underpinning for his pursuit of the NSA’s domestic spying. The amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. “I’m going to release the answers the agencies gave me in coming weeks, because they’re buying personal information,” he said. “Government should not be using a credit card to do an end run around the Fourth Amendment.”

Wyden has introduced the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act. He wants to prevent the government from buying data on Americans.

In the decades that I’ve known and covered Wyden, we never spoke about Israel. He is not the most prominent Jew in the Senate. That would be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York. But with his seniority on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Wyden’s voice carries weight.

“I despise the killing of innocents, whether Palestinians or Israelis,” he said. “I am supporting every form of aid for noncombatants. But I can’t support a cease fire that would allow Hamas to rearm.”

He added: “I’ve been to Israel a number of times. Both Palestinians and Jews really don’t understand each other’s pain. It’s not been acknowledged.”

Looking ahead to a postwar Israel, he said: “After the Arab attempt to destroy Israel, it took decades to restore (Israel’s) Middle East relations. We’re going to have to speed things up this time.”

I asked Wyden what he says to people who say President Joe Biden, who is 81, is too old to be seeking a second four-year term.

“Age to me is really about your capacity to step up and show you’ve got solutions to the big challenges of our time. We’re finally using marketplace forces to deal with the top issues that are coming up. That big issue is holding down pharmaceutical prices,” he said. “The reality is that Joe Biden was the first to recognize that. He’s talking about real issues.”

Wyden’s father, Peter Wyden, was a very successful writer of nonfiction books, including the most authoritative history of the Bay of Pigs incident. Years ago, the son suggested to the father that they write a book together. That didn’t happen, but now Wyden will make his debut as an author.

“I’m bringing out a book,” he told me. “‘Chutzpah Nation’ is the title. It’s about being bolder and more creative, taking risks.”