House Republicans are poised to deal a blow to the national security and intelligence community by gutting or ending a 9/11-era program that allowed federal law enforcement to surveil some of its citizens’ communications without a warrant.
Described as a “once-secret program” in the New York Times’ reporting, Section 702 is part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 2008. It allows federal law enforcement to surveil American citizens who communicate with foreign nationals that are deemed targets by the intelligence community. Detractors say this ability has been repeatedly abused, including to target allies of 45th President Donald Trump, supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, and peaceful protesters arrested as part of the Biden administration’s January 6 dragnet.
Section 702 has been repeatedly reauthorized since it was formally made law in 2008, with most opposition previously coming from Democrats. Even Joe Biden voted against the law as a U.S. Senator in 2008.
However, the Times notes that modern opposition to the extreme surveillance powers comes from conservative, pro-Trump Republicans who are skeptical toward the intelligence community after years of perceived political interference in Republican campaigns.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the Chairman of the House Judiciary, told the publication “There’s no way we’re going to be for reauthorizing that in its current form — no possible way.” Jordan, who the Times notes also leads the Republican committee investigating Democratic weaponization of government, added “We’re concerned about surveillance, period.”
“You couldn’t waterboard me into voting to reauthorize 702,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, told the Times. “These 702 authorities were abused against people in Washington on January 6 and they were abused against people who were affiliated with the B.L.M. movement, and I’m equally aggrieved by both of those things.”
Establishment members of both parties are working with the Biden administration to create a compromise version of Section 702 that would pass the muster of modern Republicans, but it’s unclear if any form of the powers will continue.
Even some Democrats have signaled they will not automatically support Section 702 out of party loyalty to the White House. Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat, issued a statement declaring that “No vote – including my own – should be taken for granted,” according to Politico.
The Biden administration, meanwhile, insists that its powerful surveillance tools are being used to stop fentanyl trafficking, foreign cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, and the political persecution of dissidents in communist China.
