A bipartisan group of senators and representatives have introduced the bicameral Government Surveillance Reform Act to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act with new protections for constitutional rights.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
Section 702 currently allows only for the "individualized and limited" surveillance of "non-U.S. persons who are reasonably believed to be located outside the United States and who are assessed by the intelligence community to possess or communicate specific types of foreign intelligence information identified by the attorney general and the director of national intelligence.
“The FISA Court and the Director of National Intelligence have confirmed that our government conducted warrantless surveillance of millions of Americans’ private communications,” Sen. Lee said. “It is imperative that Congress enact real reforms to protect our civil liberties, including warrant requirements and statutory penalties for privacy violations, in exchange for reauthorizing Section 702. Our bipartisan Government Surveillance Reform Act stops illegal government spying and restores the Constitutional rights of all Americans.”
Americans know it is possible to confront our country’s adversaries ferociously without throwing our constitutional rights in the trash can, Wyden said. But for too long, surveillance laws have not kept up with changing times.
“Our bill continues to give government agencies broad authority to collect information on threats at home and abroad, including the ability to act quickly in emergencies and settle up with the court later. But it creates much stronger protections for the privacy of law-abiding Americans, and restores the warrant protections that are at the heart of the Fourth Amendment.”
Davidson said: “For decades, U.S. Intelligence agencies have been circumventing our 4th Amendment right to privacy by spying on Americans without a warrant. The government Surveillance Accountability Act would end abuses under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and end unauthorized surveillance programs.”
According to a statement from Wyden’s office, the bill’s reform include:
- “Protecting Americans from warrantless backdoor searches, ensuring that foreigners aren’t targeted as a pretext for spying on the Americans with whom they are communicating, and prohibiting the collection of domestic communications.
- Extending similar reforms to surveillance activities under Executive Order 12333, including by limiting warrantless searches of Americans’ communications and prohibiting the targeting of foreigners as a pretext for surveilling Americans. It also limits the acquisition of Americans’ information as part of large datasets.
- Requiring warrants for surveillance of Americans’ location data, web browsing and search records, including AI assistants like Alexa and Siri, vehicle data and by prohibiting the government from purchasing Americans’ data from data brokers.”
The proposed reforms came after a partially redacted court ruling found that the FBI conducted inappropriate searches in 2022, including using the names of a U.S. Senator and a state senator and a judge's Social Security number.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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