TAKE ACTION: Section 702’s Showdown Coming Soon

​The contest between surveillance reformers and defenders of domestic surveillance is set to come to a showdown in the second week of April. Speaker Mike Johnson told Politico that his “current plan is to run FISA as a standalone the week after Easter.”
 
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows federal agencies to gather foreign intelligence but has been used by the government to conduct domestic surveillance on millions of Americans in recent years. Its reauthorization, with or without reforms, will almost certainly come to a vote before its expiration on April 19.
 
The big question is whether the House will be allowed vote on two reform amendments. These amendments would impose warrant requirements before federal agencies could inspect the communications of Americans caught up in the global trawl of intelligence agencies, as well as for the sensitive, personal information of Americans scraped by apps and sold by data brokers to the government. These amendments are backed by strong bipartisan support that spans across the aisle and includes leaders of the Freedom and Progressive caucuses.
 
The odds of votes on reform amendment on the House floor increased with renewed pressure for reform coming from the Senate. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act, which includes the prime provisions of House reformers, with a few pragmatic concessions to the needs of intelligence practitioners.
 
The route to this moment has been long and tortuous. The House reauthorization bill, and a chance to vote on the two warrant amendments, was pulled at the request of the intelligence community in February when it became clear these measures likely had majority support. With powerful bipartisan support for reform now coming from two respected lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, it will be hard to stiff-arm reformers again in either chamber.
That doesn’t mean it cannot happen. Expect the champions of the surveillance status quo to come up with new legislative tricks and scares (remember the Putin space nuke debacle?) before April’s vote. PPSA will be tracking every development in this struggle. Registering your determination for surveillance reform now will help maintain the “current plan” for reauthorization, debate, and vote on reform amendments.

Tell your U.S. House Representative:

“Stop the FBI and other government agencies from spying on innocent Americans. Please fight for a vote to reform FISA’s Section 702 with warrant requirements, both for Section 702 data and for our sensitive, personal information sold to the government by data brokers.”

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