Civil Liberties Advocate Expects Section on 702 Expansion After FISA Passage
The latest reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act “expands” Section 702 to include electronic communications providers like cloud services, the Cato Institute said Monday. President Joe Biden signed the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act into law Saturday. The…
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House passed the bill April 14 (see 2404120044), and the Senate approved it hours before Biden signed. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was unable to attach a warrant requirement to the legislation through an amendment. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., did not strike language from the House Intelligence Committee. Durbin said in a statement he was “disappointed” his “narrow amendment” didn’t pass. “If the government wants to spy on my private communications or the private communications of any American, they should be required to get approval from a judge, just as our Founding Fathers intended in writing the Constitution,” said Durbin. Civil liberties advocates have said the language expands Section 702. Patrick Eddington, Cato Institute senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties, said Monday the bill broadens definitions for "'electronic communications service provider' in a way that will encompass cloud-based storage companies, among others." He noted this is the first time Congress reauthorized the program for two years, instead of the standard five. Section 702 is “one of the United States’ most vital intelligence collection tools,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement Saturday. The bill allows agencies to “retain essential authority to understand and protect against a wide range of dangerous threats to Americans while enhancing safeguards for privacy and civil liberties through the most robust set of reforms ever included in legislation to reauthorize Section 702.”