Meanwhile Top House Intel Dem Claims No FISA Abuse and Fearmongers Around Expiration
Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, The New York Times reported that a judge on the nation’s intelligence court moved to renew the Section 702 surveillance program for another year. It also confirms systemic failures to comply with the very procedures that Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) claims are not being violated, arguing they have “never been abused” by Donald Trump, because he “would know it pretty much in real time if he did.” This aligns him with Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, whom Politico describes as “a leading advocate” for reauthorizing FISA without reforms.
The following is a statement from Demand Progress Executive Director Sean Vitka:
“Speaker Johnson, Majority Leader Thune, Donald Trump and Jim Himes have joined forces to stop critical privacy protections for Americans, on the basis of two very specific arguments — and the FISA Court just completely dismantled both.
First, Speaker Johnson is once again trying to ram warrantless surveillance through the House, attempting to stop so much as a vote on reforms, on the theory that Section 702 will suddenly shut off on April 21.
Second, his dance partner Jim Himes is trying to solve the speaker’s problems with Republican privacy champions by personally whipping in favor of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s surveillance agenda. For weeks, Rep. Himes has made his case by misleading people into thinking the Trump administration can be trusted with terrifying and wildly unpopular spying powers, making it less likely that Americans see Congress vote on staggeringly consequential policy questions.
The government didn’t even manage to preserve an audit trail for these warrantless searches for Americans’ communications, which means we will likely never fully understand what happened here. But Congress is now being asked to reauthorize this authority with a known, unresolved problem that threatens the privacy of Americans, while virtually none of them even have access to the underlying ruling. Instead of rushing to blindly reauthorize Section 702 without any reforms, Congress must heed the judge’s warning and enact real safeguards that protect American’s constitutional privacy rights.”
Section 702’s statutory sunset is April 20, 2026, but the FISA Court judge issued another one-year renewal of the program, meaning it “can continue to collect phone calls and emails through March 2027,” per The New York Times.
Last week, Rep. Himes was confronted by a constituent asking him about his demonstrably false statements claiming that intelligence agencies do not purchase data broker information on Americans (video: 1:08).
Liza Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, provides a more fulsome discussion of these developments here.
Yesterday, Citizen Lab also released research the reveals that customers of Webloc — “a global geolocation surveillance system that monitors hundreds of millions of people based on data purchased from consumer apps and digital advertising” — include “ICE, the U.S. military, Texas Department of Public Safety, DHS West Virginia, NYC district attorneys, and several police departments in Los Angeles, Dallas, Baltimore, Tucson, Durham and in smaller cities and counties like City of Elk Grove and Pinal County.”
Last month, Senator Wyden further warned that “the American people will be stunned” by a seemingly unrelated matter involving “secret law related to Section 702.”
A robust set of resources from the coalition is available here, and additional background, context, polling, reform demands, resources, and other information is available here.