As the clock is ticking on FISA’s deadline, congressional leadership is seeking to find common ground with libertarian-leaning Republicans. On Friday, Speaker Johnson unveiled a new FISA bill that would extend Section 702’s authority by three years. The new bill would require the FBI to conduct a monthly review of its surveillance on American citizens, but it stopped short of asking the bureau to obtain a warrant.
In a letter to Congress, a group of 44 former intelligence officials urged a re-authorization of FISA, while disputing that the data broker loophole was FISA’s problem to begin with.
“There was no loophole left open to be later closed. That is because a prohibition on data broker acquisitions would be a separate regulatory matter with distinct legal and policy implications, entirely removed from the scope of FISA,” the letter reads.
“It looks like the individuals who are for the status quo, they’re now getting rattled about the fact that we’re generating all this support,” Wyden says. “Usually, what they do is absolutely nothing until the last minute. And then at the last minute they say, ‘Oh my goodness, if we don’t get this passed just the way it is, Western civilization is going to end.’ And they basically use that threat to get what they want. Now it’s not working for them.”
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