On Friday, the US House of Representatives passed a two-year renewal of the expiring warrantless surveillance law that lingered earlier in the week. The passed bill incremented a disputed clause, Section 702, of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The traditional FISA framework that requires warrants from the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) is applicable to national security wiretapping involving Americans or individuals within the country. In contrast, Section 702 allows the government to collect communications from foreign targets overseas via US communication companies like AT&T and Alphabet for foreign intelligence or counterterrorism purposes without a warrant. This clause legalized a permutation of the warrantless wiretapping program initiated by former President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, known as The Patriot Act.
Prior to Friday’s vote, a FISA bill was rapidly dismantled mere days earlier on the House floor following encouragement by former President Donald Trump for legislators to “terminate” FISA. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has long been advocating eliminating Section 702 to bolster privacy rights.
Contrastingly, national security officials argue that this would put an enormous deterrent on the program as it is typically utilized during the early stages of investigations. In the words of Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to President Biden, revealed to reporters on Tuesday, “If we lost 702, we would lose vital insight into precisely the threats Americans expect us in government to identify and counter.”
Up until nearly the final moment on Friday, uncertainty prevailed regarding the final version of the bill as the House deliberated on a series of proposed amendments. In a critical vote, lawmakers narrowly vetoed a proposal preventing Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents and intelligence analysts from querying the database of collected messages using Americans’ identifiers – such as email addresses – without first procuring warrants.
The revised FISA bill now comprises a two-year renewal instead of the initially proposed five years. Despite the absence of the warrant requirement long sought by civil liberties group, the bill introduces several new restrictions on how the FBI can access Americans’ information in the database of communications gathered through the program.
The bill is now on route to the Senate, where it needs to secure passage by April 19 and gain President Biden’s signature to meet the deadline.
Full article available here.