Ten Civil Liberties Group (Including PPSA) Call for Reform of Section 702

By the end of 2023, Congress must decide whether to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Section 702 was intended to provide U.S. agencies with the statutory authority to collect intelligence only from foreigners abroad. Unfortunately, for over a decade, agencies have abused this authority, using loopholes in Section 702 to conduct warrantless surveillance on millions of Americans.
 
For example, a report published by ODNI in April 2022 disclosed that, in 2021 alone, the FBI conducted as many as 3.4 million searches of Section 702-acquired data for information about Americans and their communications. And in 2018, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) Judge James Boasberg rebuked the FBI for improper use of 702 databases against Americans. The misuse of this surveillance is “widespread.” The FISC also revealed that the FBI has used warrantless NSA data in a range of cases involving purely domestic issues.
 
Such a system is worse than broken. It is assembling the elements for a pervasive, unaccountable surveillance state. Congress should not reauthorize Section 702 without making significant reforms to ensure these abuses do not continue under any authority.
 
Legislation that reauthorizes Section 702 must ensure compliance with key principles:
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1. Any surveillance that impacts Americans should be undertaken only pursuant to a statute, duly enacted by the people’s representatives in Congress.
   
   
2. Any government access to Americans’ communications or other Fourth Amendment-protected data should be undertaken only pursuant to a probable cause judicial warrant.
   
   
3. Any surveillance that impacts Americans should be subject to adequate mechanisms—in both Congress and the judiciary—to ensure accountability for compliance with governing law.
   
   
4. The government should not be able to buy its way around legal limits on collecting and accessing Americans’ information.
   
   
5. Surveillance should be no broader than necessary to protect our security.

​These principles are critical to Americans’ privacy and civil liberties. In 2023, Congress must end the pervasive abuse of Section 702 and other surveillance authorities.

Fourth Amendment, U.S. Constitution: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”