The U.S. Senate voted 60–34 to reauthorize and amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) under Section 702 on an early Saturday, just after the provision expired at midnight. This law authorizes federal intelligence services to gather intelligence data from non-U.S. individuals suspected to be out of the U.S. without a search warrant.
Section 702 came into existence as a counterterrorism measure in 2008 and has been under the scrutiny of civil liberties activists since then due to data of U.S. citizens being unintentionally collected during foreign surveillance. The U.S. Director of National Intelligence reported that, in 2022 alone, FBI conducted 204,090 warrantless searches of U.S. citizens’ data collected under Section 702, a substantial drop from 3,394,053 such searches in 2021.
In response to the raised concerns about civil liberties, this year’s Section 702 reauthorization, known as Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, restricts the accessing and usage of Americans’ data by the FBI. The reauthorization also limits the duration of Section 702 reauthorization from five years to two.
In the aftermath of its enactment, despite several attempted amendments to limit or prohibit warrantless searches, speculations are rife. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Dick Durban (D-IL) were among five senators who tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to amend and restrict warrantless searches respectively.
Following the Senate’s vote, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan promised a swift signoff from President Joe Biden, stating the law will retain its core objective while enhancing privacy and civil liberties safeguards via reforms. Nonetheless, a handful of senators remain skeptical about the bill’s adherence to protecting civil liberties, including Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who posted his dissent:
If the government wants to listen in on your conversations, they should have to get a warrant. Period
The reauthorization of Section 702 now awaits President Biden’s signature.