Jordan, Nadler Seek FISA Surveillance Warrant Requirement
The House Judiciary Committee plans to mark up legislation Wednesday reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told us last week (see 2311280042).
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“We’ve got a lot of agreement” with the House Intelligence Committee on a “lot of reforms, but we have a couple issues where we have some differences,” he said. “And we’re working through those.”
FISA and the controversial Section 702 are set to expire Dec. 31 (see 2307140042). Friday Jordan's office didn't confirm that the markup will happen Wednesday.
Ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told us he and Jordan want a warrant requirement that will curb well-documented surveillance authority abuse. He said both sides are working on a bill “we think will pass” and result in long-term reforms. Nadler doesn’t see the same potential for passage of a bipartisan, bicameral bill that Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., introduced (see 2311060068). “I would love that bill, but I don’t think it would pass,” Nadler said. He and Jordan didn’t sign onto the measure.
Wyden, Lofgren and other privacy-minded and civil liberties advocates for years have sought long-term revisions. Many are speaking out against including FISA reauthorization in another short-term funding bill in this latest round of negotiations. “It won’t sail through with the” continuing resolution, said Nadler: “We’re going to make major changes to it.”
Asked if he would support a short-term extension, Jordan said, “We’re for passing a stand-alone” bill. “I think our focus should be passing the bill. I’m not going to deal in the hypotheticals. We’ve got a good bill that we’ve been working on for a long time, and we plan on marking our bill up” Wednesday.
The warrant requirement proposal, which the White House opposes, has mixed support in the Senate. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and ranking member Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced legislation Tuesday that doesn’t include a warrant requirement. The bill achieves the right “middle ground,” Warner told us. “The most important thing is to get it done before the end of the year. This tool is absolutely critical, and at this moment in time” with conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, it “would be reckless to let it lapse.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee bill includes an auditing provision letting independent parties review FISA activity. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told us this is a “more practical approach” than a warrant requirement. House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a report saying a warrant requirement would “jeopardize” the intelligence community’s “ability to respond swiftly to urgent threats or to collect valuable foreign intelligence information.”
“My highest priority is to make sure we don’t get attacked again,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told us Thursday. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said a warrant requirement isn’t “practical,” but “we’ll see.”
A better approach would be to codify many of the changes the FBI has already implemented in response to criticism about surveillance abuse, said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. This includes 30 to 40 revisions that most members support, he said: “We’ve got to get it done before the end of the year.”
“I think the public needs to be reassured we’re doing everything we can to provide effective guardrails and oversight,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. At the same time, Congress should avoid “handcuffing” the intelligence community with a warrant requirement. Multiple layers of oversight from Congress and the FISA court exist already, he added.