(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Legislation purporting to “reform” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is set to go to a vote in Congress as soon as Tuesday, but a civil libertarian watchdog is warning that the supposed FISA fixes would actually mark the biggest expansion of domestic surveillance in America since the Patriot Act.
The bill in question is the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act, which is coming out of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. According to the non-profit Brennan Center for Justice, the bill’s name does not match its contents.
The most insidious aspect of the bill is its changing the definition of “electronic communication service provider,” the Brennan Center warned.
RED ALERT: Buried in the House intelligence committee’s Section 702 “reform” bill, which is schedule for a floor vote as soon as tomorrow, is the biggest expansion of surveillance inside the United States since the Patriot Act. 1/11
— Elizabeth Goitein (@LizaGoitein) December 11, 2023
“Going forward, it would not just be entities that have direct access to communications, like email and phone service providers, that could be required to turn over communications. Any business that has access to ‘equipment’ on which communications are stored and transmitted would be fair game,” the Brennan Center said.
“That means hotels, libraries, coffee shops, and other businesses that provide wifi could be compelled to serve as surrogate spies, structuring their systems so that they can give the government access to entire communications streams.”
The FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act is competing against a bill coming out of the House Judiciary Committee: the Protect Liberty & End Warrantless Surveillance Act, which made it out of committee earlier this month in a vote of 35-2.
The House Judiciary’s bill would require the FBI to obtain a warrant before they use FISA against a U.S. person.
Congress will likely have to pass one of the bills by the end of the year. Section 702 of FISA, which allows U.S. government agencies to target foreigners outside the U.S. for intelligence purposes, will sunset at the end of the year unless reauthorized by Congress.
FISA reform is one of the only issues in Congress that has broad, bipartisan report. But as Headline USA previously reported, top congressional lawmakers are trying to shoehorn the House Intelligence Committee’s version of the bill into the National Defense Authorization Act, which funds the military every year—meaning that Republicans would have to vote against military funding if they want to oppose the massive expansion of surveillance.
Along with current lawmakers, Former House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte also spoke against this tactic.
“There is no reason to rush this process and give the Administration what it wants by sneaking HPSCI’s deeply flawed proposal into the NDAA,” Goodlatte said. “In fact, the current Section 702 FISA Court certification does not expire until April 10, 2024, which means Congress has several months to put together a package of real reforms that could justify extending Section 702.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
