Senator Lindsey Graham on the Need to Reform Section 702

The intelligence community and FBI are strenuously lobbying Congress that Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, set to expire at the end of this year, should get a “clean” reauthorization – without any amendments or reforms.
 
Some Members of Congress are dead set against any reauthorization of Section 702, an authority designed by Congress to allow the surveillance of foreigners on foreign soil but has been used by government agencies – the FBI most notably – to spy on Americans at home.
 
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sounded a note of caution to both sides in this debate. He recently noted that if Congress fails to reauthorize Section 702, “the country will be much at risk” without an ability to identify “some pretty bad actors.”
 
“The ISIS Al Qaeda footprint is coming back, China’s up to no good at every front, the Iranians are threatening to kill members of the Trump Administration and many of us have been briefed by the FBI based on pick-ups you’ve had regarding threats against us,” Sen. Graham said.
 
But the senator pushed back on the notion that 702 should be reauthorized without needed reforms.
 
“The downside is it has been abused and there’s a warrant requirement to investigate an American citizen for potential wrongdoing,” Sen. Graham said, “And we don’t want this to be used to get around a warrant requirement, so the bottom line is let’s reauthorize this program and build in some safeguards.”
 
It’s well and good that more leaders on the Hill are seeing the need for reform. PPSA looks forward to seeing Sen. Graham and his colleagues follow through on their recognition that new safeguards are needed.