Lawmakers are attempting to dispel ‘myths’ about the FBI’s controversial foreign spy tool as they put forward a number of reforms to limit abuse before reauthorization – including improper surveillance of Americans.
The tool, Section 702 under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), allows U.S. federal intelligence agencies to conduct targeted searches of foreigners, which they say is critical to stopping terrorists, drug traffickers, spies and other threats to national security.
However, a string of recent reports have revealed rampant abuses of the program, including hundreds of thousands of improper queries by the FBI of Americans who may be communicating with the foreigners.
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner told DailyMail.com that the 72-page report released today includes fixes that will ‘significantly lessen’ abuses.
‘I think that the reforms that we’ve put in place significantly lessen the chances for abuses. And our reforms include significant penalties if abuses do occur,’ Turner said Thursday.
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner told DailyMail.com that the 72-page report released today includes fixes that will ‘significantly lessen’ abuses
FBI Director Chris Wray has stated that the terrorist threat to the country looms large
The report was put out by Republicans sitting on the House FISA working group which was formed in March.
It states: ‘Our reforms would cut over 90% of the FBI out of the ability to authorize US person queries.’
In addition, it clarifies how much information the FBI can use if they are monitoring an American’s correspondence with a foreigner.
‘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,’ says the report.
‘The government can never target U.S. persons whose communications are incidentally collected under Section 702.’
The report also puts into place tougher auditing requirements, especially since it was recently uncovered that Rep. Darin LaHood was improperly queried, as well as an unnamed senator’s campaign.
‘The FBI should notify the House and Senate leaders, and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, when the FBI queries a term that would identify a member of Congress,’ the report indicates.
Turner is aiming to get a bill that can pass the House and the Senate on the floor after the Thanksgiving holiday break before the new year – leaving just five weeks for markup and passage.
The Republican from Dayton, Ohio, batted down a suggestion that Congress might vote on a short extension to carry Section 702 into the new year so lawmakers have more time to come to an agreement on reauthorization.
‘I think we’re going to get it done. I’m not working on an extension, I’m working on a bill,’ Turner said.
Key Democrats are already on board with the effort being spearheaded by Turner.
Democrat Jim Himes, the HPSCI ranking member, has been working closely with Turner on draft legislation and the two have a productive and bipartisan relationship.
In addition, Senate Intelligence Chairman Sen. Warner indicated he is ‘very close’ to an agreement on bill language, Turner told DailyMail.com.
‘I had been working with Senator Warner on these proposed reforms. And he’s indicated that we are we’re very close to an agreement on a real package of meaningful reforms.’
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is working separately on his own bill for Section 702 reauthorization.
Turner slammed a bipartisan bill led by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that was released last week, which included a warrant requirement.
‘There are many misconceptions about how 702 works. And this bill represents, I think, the core of most of the myths about 702,’ Turner told DailyMail.com.
Wyden’s legislation would this would be ‘incredibly dangerous to our country’ Turner continued, especially as FBI Director Chris Wray has stated that the terrorist threat to the country looms large.
‘The reality is that the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level,’ Wray told Congress at the end of October.
Turner says his committee and the White House have been communicating throughout the entire process.
The White House is supportive of no warrant requirements as part of a future deal that the president could sign, which Turner says is in line with the committee’s report.
Turner said: ‘The question is, should there be warrants? No.’
‘There are no constitutional protections for connecting with a terrorist organization outside the U.S.,’ he added.
Turner explained the importance of Section 702 in light of recent attempts by terrorist-linked groups to organize rallies across the nation.
The X account for Hamas-linked group Samidoun wrote on the social media platform, encouraging their supporters to protest outside of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s house last month.
At the urging of Samidoun, 100 protesters were arrested after they showed up to demonstrate outside Schumer’s Brooklyn home.
The protesters called for an end to U.S. aid for Israel on a day of mass protest in New York and around the world after the leader of Hamas called for a global ‘day of outrage.’
The X account for Hamas-linked group Samidoun wrote on the social media platform, encouraging their supporters to protest outside of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s house last month
At the urging of Samidoun, 100 protesters were arrested after they showed up to demonstrate outside Schumer’s Brooklyn home
Turner said although those 100 arrested American protestors are now connected to Samidoun, which is alleged to be a Hamas front organization, they wouldn’t be queried under Section 702.
However, if investigators believe there was criminal activity, they can go to FISA court and get a subpoena for the information.
‘We can look to see if any of the [arrested] people are communicating with international terrorists.’
‘If they are in Hamas’ data, we should have access to it. We do not and should not need a warrant to look at legally and constitutionally collected Hamas data.’