Myths vs. Facts: Will Section 702 Be a Gift to Fentanyl Traffickers?

Intelligence Community MYTH: We need to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – just as it is now – in order to counter the carnage caused by fentanyl trafficking.
 
FACT: The government hasn’t cited a single instance in which warrantless searches of Americans’ communications proved useful in combating the fentanyl trade.
 
None of the proposed surveillance reforms involving Americans’ privacy, such as a warrant requirement, would stop the intelligence community from using Section 702 to locate foreign fentanyl labs, whether in China or Mexico, and tracking the cartels that smuggle it.
 
And if an American does become a suspect in this trafficking, the government can and should seek a probable cause warrant, as is routinely done in other domestic law enforcement cases. We do not need to sacrifice our constitutional rights in order to fight fentanyl trafficking.