For the third time since December, House Speaker Mike Johnson has unsuccessfully fought for support for the reauthorization of critical U.S. surveillance programs, and the future of legislation that requires certain companies to wiretap foreign nationals on behalf of the government. There are questions about sexuality.
Mr. Johnson lost 19 Republicans on Tuesday in procedural votes traditionally along party lines. Republicans control the House, but by a narrow margin. The rejection comes after former President Donald Trump, in a 2 a.m. Truth Social post, cited the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes the program, and ordered Republicans to “kill FISA.” I woke up a few hours later.
The Section 702 surveillance program, which targets foreign nationals overseas and sweeps large amounts of U.S. communications, is scheduled to end on April 19th. The program was extended for four months in late December after Mr Johnson's initial failure to conduct a vote.
Congressional officials told WIRED they have no idea what the next steps will be.
The program itself will continue into next year, regardless of whether Mr Johnson can muster another vote next week. Congress does not directly authorize surveillance. Instead, U.S. intelligence agencies can seek annual “certification” from the Secret Surveillance Tribunal.
The Department of Justice applied for new certification in February. It was announced last week that it had been approved by the court. However, questions remain about the government's ability to issue new directives under the plan without parliamentary approval.
The certification is required only for “incidental” collection of U.S. phone calls and typically allows the program to be used in cases involving terrorism, cybercrime, and weapons proliferation. U.S. intelligence officials have also touted the program as critical to combating the flood of fentanyl-related substances entering the United States from abroad.
The program remains controversial, primarily due to the extensive list of abuses committed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation maintains a database that holds some of the raw data collected under 702.
The government has acknowledged that it “targets” only foreign nationals, but collects large amounts of U.S. communications in the process. (It says it's impossible to calculate the actual amount.) Nevertheless, the group says that once these communications become government property, federal agents can investigate wiretaps on them without a warrant. It is argued that this is constitutional.
An unlikely coalition of progressive and conservative lawmakers formed last year to try to end these warrantless searches, but many Republicans believe the FBI's use of FISA to target Trump campaign staffers in 2016 It involved people who had been vocal critics of the FBI in response to the incident. (The 702 program, which is just part of FISA, is not involved in that particular controversy.)
Privacy experts have criticized proposed changes to the Section 702 program supported by members of the House Intelligence Committee and Mr. Johnson, who previously voted in favor of warrant requests but now I'm against it.
“Congressional leadership appears to need a reminder that these privacy protections are overwhelmingly popular,” said Sean Vitka, policy director at civil liberties nonprofit Demand Progress. . “Surveillance reformers continue to have the desire and ability to do that.”
A small group of lawyers who have argued before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said in a statement Tuesday that the Intel committee's proposed amendments risk dramatically increasing the number of U.S. companies forced to cooperate with the program. said.
Declassified filings released by the FISA court last year revealed that the FBI exploited the 702 program more than 278,000 times. washington post“19,000 donations to crime victims, January 6th riot suspects, people arrested at protests after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, and in one case, a congressional candidate.'' against the person.
Despite recognizing Section 702's value, James Czerniawaski, a senior policy analyst at Americans for Prosperity think tank in Washington, D.C., said it remains a “problematic plan.” It states that “important and meaningful reforms” are needed.
“Today's outcome was completely avoidable,” he says. “But the intelligence community and its allies need to recognize that the days of unaccountable spying on Americans are over.”