PPSA Commends Rep. Andy Biggs for the Reintroduction of the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act

Rep. Andy Biggs, PHOTO CREDIT: Gage Skidmore

​“National security and civil liberties are not mutually exclusive,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ). “We can give our intelligence professionals the tools they need to target foreign threats while ensuring that Americans are not subjected to unconstitutional surveillance.”
 
Rep. Biggs last week underscored that philosophy by reintroducing the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act. His bill would bring powerful reforms to Section 702, which authorizes federal intelligence agencies to spy on foreign targets on foreign soil but has often been used by the FBI to spy on Americans. This authority must be reauthorized by April 20 or expire.
 
Among its many provisions, the Protect Liberty Act would:
 

• Require a warrant before information collected under Section 702 could be used to inspect the communications of people inside the United States.

 

• Bar the government from purchasing or obtaining Americans’ personal digital data – a practice currently carried out by more than a dozen federal agencies, from the FBI to the IRS.

 

• Sunset the “Make Everyone a Spy” provision slipped into the last reauthorization that requires virtually every business or house of worship to secretly facilitate spying on its customers and congregants.

 

• Require the secret FISA courts to appoint legal experts (amici curiae) with security clearances to represent the civil liberties of the American people.

 

• Reauthorize Section 702 for two years from this April, ensuring that the next reauthorization does not arise during a budget or election season, when Congress will be too busy to take a careful look at how this authority has worked and how it might need to be adjusted.

 
Despite talk on the Hill of a “clean” reauthorization of Section 702, Rep. Biggs’ bill should get the attention of civil liberties champions across the ideological spectrum, from the House Freedom Caucus to Demand Progress.
 
Polls show that vast majorities of Americans in both parties are deeply concerned about government agencies that treat privacy as a luxury and the Fourth Amendment as a nuisance.
 
“The Protect Liberty Act is the most important government surveillance reform measure in several generations – protecting Americans’ constitutional rights while leaving in place important authorities to keep the American people safe from foreign threats,” said Bob Goodlatte, former Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Senior Policy Advisor to PPSA.
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“FISA Section 702 was enacted by Congress to enable the surveillance of foreign threats on foreign soil, but has been used in recent years by the FBI for domestic spying,” Goodlatte said. “It has been abused to spy on millions of Americans, including judges, sitting Members of Congress, 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign, and countless others.
 
“PPSA commends Subcommittee Chairman Andy Biggs for bringing this reform into the debate over the reauthorization of Section 702,” Goodlatte said. “We are hopeful that Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee will once again pass it and that President Trump will sign it into law."

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