Congressman Darin LaHood, R-Ill., has made a startling revelation with the potential for far-reaching repercussions.
It involves Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). LaHood, a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) member, chairs the committee’s FISA Working Group, overseeing Section 702 and deciding whether the provision should be renewed before it expires on Dec. 31, 2023.
Section 702 empowers federal agencies to compel internet and technology companies to hand over private communications about suspected foreign terrorists and spies without a warrant.
Critics argue intelligence agencies have used the program to conduct mass, warrantless surveillance.
LaHood made clear that renewing Section 702 without reforms is a non-starter at Thursday’s House Intelligence Committee hearing. He also shared his experience with the spy program.
During an exchange with FBI Director Christopher Wray, LaHood revealed he believed he was the unnamed congressman on which FBI agents admittedly conducted wrongful searches, according to a recently declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Bloomberg further reports:
The committee created a working group to study changes.“The bottom line is 702 deserves to be reauthorized because it’s an invaluable tool,” LaHood said during a hearing on global threats with testimony from the chiefs of US intelligence agencies.“But the FISA working group must and will pursue reforms and safeguards through the reauthorization process.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged during the hearing that there have been abuses of Section 702 data, but he said that was before he instituted a series of internal reforms. The FBI also has created a new office to focus specifically on Section 702 audits and compliance, Wray said.
“Like any major institution, we have made mistakes,” Wray said. “We’re determined to be worthy of all Americans’ trust.“
LaHood shared extensive details from the ODNI report, as The Daily Wire notes:
“I have had the opportunity to review the classified summary of this violation, and it is my opinion that the member of Congress that was wrongfully queried multiple times solely by his name was in fact me,” he said.
The ODNI report covering December 2019 to May 2020 says the FBI searched the name of a local political party and the name of a congressman, despite not being “reasonably likely” to reveal foreign intelligence or evidence of a crime.
An agent “conducted approximately [redacted] queries in [redacted] using only the name of a U.S. congressman. The 707 Report describes the specific facts that led the IA to conduct these queries. These queries retrieved unminimized PISA-acquired information, including Section 702-acquired products that were opened. FBI advised that no unminimized FISA-acquired information was disseminated or used in any other way. NSD and ODNI assess, based on these facts, that these queries were not compliant because they were overly broad,” it said.
FISA allows intelligence agencies to spy on foreigners, but the agencies have allegedly weaponized it to wrongfully target Americans, including political opponents. Warrants must be approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, but that court is shrouded in secrecy and appears to rarely reject requests for warrants.
The Biden administration has called reauthorizing the spy provision a “top legislative priority.”
Speaking to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board in January, Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of United States Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, emphatically stated, “Section 702 cannot be used to target Americans anywhere in the world or any person inside the United States regardless of nationality. No exceptions.”
“Under Section 702, both national security and civil liberties and privacy are preserved and protected. It is an ‘and’ and not an ‘or’ that connects these two important goals. Neither is compromised for the other. Seven hundred two authorities provided exquisite foreign intelligence that is focused on non-U.S. persons outside the United States and specific invaluable insights that protect our nation, intelligence that cannot be obtained through other means,” he added.
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Hmm. Director Wray claims he has implemented internal reforms that will avoid past mistakes. His new procedures are designed to ensure they don’t get caught.
How many more had same Experience?