The House Intelligence Committee has recently introduced a set of recommendations aimed at reforming Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial surveillance tool.
This tool has been lauded for its role in thwarting terror attacks on American soil, while simultaneously facing criticism for allegedly enabling unwarranted spying on U.S. citizens.
Section 702, added to FISA in 2008, allows the U.S. government to monitor specific foreign nationals outside the country without the need for a warrant. A 73-page report by the committee's bipartisan FISA Working Group, led by Republican Representative Darin LaHood of Illinois, staunchly defends this provision, citing its critical role in U.S. defense post the September 11 attacks.
The report states, "[I]t is hard to find an adjective that adequately describes a tool that has done as much to safeguard American lives and liberty as it has. We are unable to calculate just how many lives it has saved. It is worth noting that there has not been another 9/11 since Section 702s inception, despite the persistent threat of terrorism."
However, the report also concedes that Section 702 is not without its flaws, necessitating significant reform. It highlights issues such as the need for increased penalties, compliance, and oversight, as well as querying abuses by the FBI.
As Section 702 is due to expire at the end of the year, its renewal is already facing considerable opposition. Critics, including members of Congress from both ends of the political spectrum, argue that the program is overly broad and prone to misuse. They contend that it infringes on Americans' civil liberties, particularly when the FBI conducts warrantless surveillance on communications between Americans and foreign nationals.
Prominent allies of former President Donald Trump, including Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have alleged that the program was misused to spy on the Trump 2016 campaign, including former aide Carter Page.
However, the report released on Friday refutes these allegations. It disputes the claim that Section 702 permits the intelligence community to access all correspondence of a U.S. citizen communicating with a foreign national. The report clarifies, "If a U.S. person communicates with a target of Section 702 collection, only the specific correspondence in which the foreign target is a party is collected this is referred to as incidental collection. The government can never target U.S. persons whose communications are incidentally collected under Section 702."
The report further describes Section 702 as "individualized and extremely limited," applicable only to foreigners "who possess or communicate specific types of foreign intelligence information." While acknowledging that abuses were found in the FBIs surveillance of Page and the 2016 Trump campaign, the report maintains that these were separate from Section 702.
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