Congress can’t afford to let the Feds lose this critical intelligence tool
BY DAVID LASSETER AND STEPHEN BOYD, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS - 11/29/23 12:30 PM ET
In 33 days, a key authority within the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is slated to sunset, leaving the U.S. without one of its best sources of intelligence on terrorists, adverse state actors and drug traffickers. Allowing this national security authority to expire would be a grave mistake.
Congressional reauthorization of the provision known as Section 702 is a must, but it won’t be easy. As the managers of the Justice Department’s last successful reauthorization campaign, we know that this authority, which allows the U.S. government to conduct surveillance on foreign persons reasonably believed to be overseas, is a critical intelligence tool.
But as former chiefs of staff on Capitol Hill, we also understand that congressional concern about alleged misuse of collected data must be addressed. Those dueling realities — the program is at once valuable and in need of repair — demand a compromise that improves the law without gutting its usefulness.
Today, we sense knowledge and trust deficits on Capitol Hill that open the door for unserious voices to derail what must be a national security priority. This is not the time for Congress to be buffeted by ill-informed opinions on the political fringes or fall prey to myth-making by outside groups. Individual members of Congress must take it upon themselves to get educated on the facts and the law — critical, given that nearly half of all House members are new since the last reauthorization.
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4331574-congress-cant-afford-to-let-the-feds-lose-this-critical-intelligence-tool/
