Warnings Mount in Congress Over Expanded US Wiretap Powers
Meanwhile, experts and lawmakers from both parties are sounding the alarm over the FBI’s continued access to Americans’ communications without a warrant under a surveillance law.
Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, four witnesses urged Congress to impose a probable-cause warrant requirement on searches of a vast government database built under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
However, the stakes are high, with the Trump administration’s loyalists backing the 702 program and a federal court holding that warrantless “backdoor searches” of Americans’ Section 702 data are unconstitutional.
Section 702: A Tool for Domestic Spying?
Consequently, lawmakers and witnesses warned that the program risks turning into a standing engine for domestic spying, with the government’s permission slip for warrantless spying on Americans.
Moreover, a former US attorney testified that the government’s assurances that the program would not be used improperly against honest Americans were a lie.
Therefore, the coalition arrayed against the 702 program cut across party and ideological lines, with liberal Democrats echoing complaints long voiced by conservative critics of “the deep state.”
The Risks of Unchecked Surveillance
Meanwhile, intelligence officials say that the number of warrantless searches dropped dramatically in the wake of recent reforms, but witnesses and lawmakers warned that the new figures are misleading.
Furthermore, the reforms stopped short of imposing a warrant requirement or strong, automatic external checks on FBI queries, allowing the bureau to continue to police itself.
In addition, the FBI alone conducted more than 57,000 such searches in 2023, according to public transparency reports.
A Bruising Reauthorization Fight Ahead
Therefore, lawmakers and witnesses said Thursday’s hearing was an early marker in what will likely be a bruising reauthorization fight over the coming months.
Moreover, the stakes are especially high now under the Trump administration, with both the legal backdrop and political landscape shifted against unchecked surveillance.
Consequently, a coalition of experts and lawmakers from both parties is urging Congress to impose a probable-cause warrant requirement on searches of a vast government database built under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Source: Link
