Exclusive – Sen. Mike Lee: House Intel Committee Proposed Surveillance Reforms ‘Mere Window Dressing,’ Would Expand Surveillance ProgramsSean Moran 14 Nov 2023
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement that the House Intelligence Committee’s proposed reforms are “mere window dressing” and may even expand government surveillance programs.
The House Intelligence is reportedly circulating details about how to reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial government surveillance program.
Section 702 is a law that allows intelligence agencies to collect communications of targeted foreigners. It also may lead to targeted surveillance of Americans’ private communications, which privacy advocates consider a run around the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for a warrant to search Americans’ communications.
Section 702 will expire at the end of the year, setting up a high-stakes battle between privacy-oriented lawmakers and those sympathetic to the intelligence agencies.
Politico obtained the memo about the proposal, which would introduce modest reforms to the program:
In a notable shift for Intelligence Committee members, who are generally more closely aligned with the community they oversee, the panel will require a warrant for a subset of searches for Americans’ information swept in under 702. The panel’s bill would require a warrant for “evidence of a crime” searches, which are not related to foreign intelligence. The administration has signaled privately and publicly for months that it is opposed to any warrant requirement, arguing that it would undermine the effectiveness of the program.
The Intelligence Committee’s proposal isn’t yet finalized. But the talking point details are far narrower than those in a bipartisan, bicameral bill privacy hawks rolled out last week that would require a warrant for any U.S. person searches. The scope of a warrant requirement is expected to be the most contentious issue in the upcoming debate, and Republicans are predicting it will need to be hashed out on the House floor.more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/11/14/exclusive-sen-mike-lee-house-intel-committee-proposed-surveillance-reforms-mere-window-dressing-would-expand-surveillance-programs/
