US intelligence officials have defended the controversial spying authority provided by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, saying it's used to help keep certain weapons parts from being sold to Iran.
Officials from the CIA and other intelligence agencies told Politico that the tool, which allows those agencies to collect and examine communications such as the text messages and emails of foreign nationals living outside the United States, is being used as part of the Biden administration’s attempts to keep Iran from improving its ballistic missile program.
“It wasn’t one specific action. It was a number of actions,” said one of the intelligence officials who spoke to Politico after being granted anonymity in order to speak about sensitive intelligence matters. “In at least one instance, if not more, specific sales were stopped either before they went or while they were en route.”
Intelligence officials have been publicly defending the use of the controversial tool, noting its use in fighting fentanyl trafficking at the border, in an effort to compel Congress to reauthorize Section 702 before it expires at the end of this year.
Officials told Politico that using the tool to query U.S. citizens or non-citizens living in the country proved pivotal in identifying an individual and a foreign company attempting to bypass sanctions on Iran. The officials did not identify the individual or company involved, but said the U.S. Treasury Department was able to block the sale, which would have provided tens of millions of dollars worth of goods to Iran.
“Sometimes 702 is the only collection that we have on these kinds of things. So it makes it that much more critical,” the official said.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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