Senate Must Act Quickly to Reauthorize FISA Before Deadline

The U.S. Senate is facing a tight deadline to pass a crucial surveillance bill to avoid a lapse in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

This section of FISA, scheduled to expire on Friday, allows for warrantless surveillance of foreigners abroad.

Last week, the House passed a bill to reauthorize Section 702, but a separate provision that would end warrantless surveillance of Americans did not pass.

While FISA prohibits targeting Americans, it does allow for the collection of communications between U.S. citizens and foreign surveillance targets.

Former President Donald Trump had urged House Republicans to “kill FISA,” claiming the provision allowed the FBI to spy on his 2016 campaign.

The Senate is set to take its first vote on the FISA legislation on Thursday and will need to reduce debate and amendments to ensure the bill’s passage and avoid a technical lapse in the program’s authority for warrantless surveillance, Politico reported.

Despite calls from Senate leaders on both sides to approve the legislation, there are some members of the chamber who have reservations about the bill.

“I do not support reauthorizing FISA Section 702 in its current form and call on the Senate to take action to stop warrantless searches by the government and law enforcement agencies to protect Montanans’ freedom and privacy,” said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who is running for reelection, in a statement on Wednesday.

“Politicians who love freedom don’t authorize warrantless surveillance of American citizens,” wrote Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on Twitter on Monday. “Fix FISA 702. Or shut it down. #GetAWarrant,” he added.

“We need to debate — we’ve had five years,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., according to the Washington Examiner. “I would think we’ve got time to debate whether or not it’s appropriate for our government to spy on its own citizens without a warrant.”

The House bill included a provision to cover new types of data service providers, leading some critics to characterize the changes as a “vast expansion of surveillance authorities.”

“If you have access to any communications, the government can force you to help it spy,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., as reported by the Examiner. “That means anybody with access to a server, a wire, a cable box, a Wi-Fi router, a phone, or computer. This can all happen without any oversight whatsoever.”

The Biden administration sent a memo to Senate offices stating that the bill “does not expand the scope” of who can be targeted for surveillance, according to Politico.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., emphasized the importance of passing FISA as a critical tool in identifying terrorism threats.

“The notion that we would let … the crown jewel of our intelligence collection abilities to go dark as we simultaneously debate aid for Ukraine and Israel and humanitarian relief to the Palestinians in Gaza, to let it go dark at this moment in time would be the height of irresponsibility,” Warner stated during a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also supported the House bill.

“All the House did was fix a dangerous loophole that would have allowed our foreign adversaries to escape the reach of our intelligence services,” McConnell said on Wednesday, as reported by the Examiner.