Should Congress allow the government to conduct targeted surveillance of non-U.S. nationals outside of the U.S. without a warrant?
H.R. 7888 renews Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to conduct targeted surveillance of non-U.S. nationals outside the U.S. without obtaining a warrant. While Section 702 does not allow for direct surveillance of U.S. citizens, Americans’ data can still be collected when they interact with a non-American person who is under surveillance. H.R. 7888 partially limits the information that can be collected to mitigate incidental surveillance of Americans (particularly elected officials) but does not outright ban incidental surveillance.
Sponsor: Rep. Laurel Lee (Republican, Florida, District 15)
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Opponents say
• "The Senate waited until the 11th hour to ram through renewal of warrantless surveillance in the dead of night. But I’m not giving up. The American people know that reform is possible and that they don’t need to sacrifice their liberty to have security. It is clear from the votes on very popular amendments that senators were unwilling to send this bill back to the House, no matter how common-sense the amendment before them. Time after time anti-reformers pledge that their band-aid changes to the law will curb abuses, and yet every time, the public learns about fresh abuses by officials who face little meaningful oversight. Those of us who believe liberty and security are not mutually exclusive have a lot of work to do." Source: Sen. Ron Wyden (Democrat, Oregon)
• "FISA Section 702 is an important tool to ensure the Intelligence Community and our law enforcement agencies have the authorities they need to keep the American people safe from foreign threats—there’s no question of that. However, we need to balance the needs of our national security and the rights of the American people—it’s a false choice to say that we cannot uphold both. The House-passed FISA Section 702 bill simply does not go far enough to deliver the protections for privacy and civil liberties that I believe are necessary. I have strong concerns that this expansion of FISA Section 702 authorities would allow for increased abuse and misuse of the law—infringing on the rights of Americans here at home. " Source: Sen. Patty Murray (Democrat, Washington)
• "Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the U.S. government engages in mass, warrantless surveillance of Americans’ and foreigners’ phone calls, text messages, emails, and other electronic communications. Information collected under the law without a warrant can be used to prosecute and imprison people, even for crimes that have nothing to do with national security. Given our nation’s history of abusing its surveillance authorities, and the secrecy surrounding the program, we should be concerned that Section 702 is and will be used to disproportionately target disfavored groups, whether minority communities, political activists, or even journalists.
Section 702 is set to expire at the end of 2023. We call on Congress to significantly reform the law, or allow it to sunset." Source: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Proponents say
• "[Section 702] allows us to ensure the privacy of Americans; and it has oversight built in from the executive branch, the legislative branch and from the courts to ensure that we're using it properly. It is our Americans that serve every day in the national defense of the American people…And that includes their civil liberties [and] their privacy; and we will continue to be transparent about how we use this authority to defend Americans every single day [with intelligence] collection against China, against Russia, counterterrorism threats and cyber threats that face the nation every single day. " Source: Gen. Tim D. Haugh (Director, National Security Agency)
• "We applaud the Senate’s passage of H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act. This legislation, which passed the House last week and the Senate tonight with broad bipartisan support, will renew and reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) – one of the United States’ most vital intelligence collection tools. The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act will retain essential authority to understand and protect against a wide range of dangerous threats to Americans while enhancing safeguards for privacy and civil liberties through the most robust set of reforms ever included in legislation to reauthorize Section 702." Source: Jake Sullivan (Advisor, National Security Agency)
• "It’s [Section 702) a critically important piece of our intelligence and law enforcement in this country. It allows us to continue killing Hamas terrorists…It allows us to track shipments of the least illicit chemicals used to make fentanyl and allows us to protect U.S. warships from attacks by Houthi rebels, allows us to stop China from stealing American intellectual property and it prevents ransomware attacks against American companies. We will regroup and reformulate another plan. We cannot allow Section 702 of FISA to expire. It’s too important to national security. I think most of the members understand that," Source: Rep. Mike Johnson (Republican, LA, District 4)
- Bill Signed: H.R. 7888 (Press Release)
- Senate Passes Bill Renewing Key FISA Surveillance Power Moments After it Expires (NBC)
- What is the Powerful Surveillance Law that Divided Lawmakers? (the New York Times)
- House Passes Modified Surveillance Bill After it Failed Earlier This Week (CNN)
- U.S. Officials Scramble to Stop Major Internet Firms From Ditching FISA Obligations (Washington Post)
- Data Privacy and the Contested Expansion of FISA, Section 702 (Forbes)
- Rep. Laurel Lee’s Largest Donors (OpenSecrets)
