 The government has yet to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in 2024 by the Cato Institute seeking records on abuses of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Court records reveal, however, that the FBI is withholding 39,650 pages responsive to that FOIA request. This should be a matter of vital interest to Congress. Section 702 is a surveillance authority that allows the government to spy on foreign threats on foreign soil, but has been used widely in recent years to warrantlessly spy on millions of Americans whose communications are “incidentally” caught up in the National Security Agency’s global trawl. So you would think that almost 40,000 pages on possible FBI violations of Section 702 would be at the forefront of the debate over whether to add guardrails and reforms as Section 702 faces reauthorization. But Congress has been supine while the FBI promises to release only a meager 128 pages in August. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which could add clarity to the FBI’s actions, has also been sidelined by the administration. Patrick Eddington, a Cato fellow, wrote: “Congress is being asked to extend, without a warrant requirement, a surveillance program whose compliance record cannot be independently verified, whose oversight bodies have been deliberately disabled, and whose custodians have shown a personal willingness to turn its tools on the press.” The latter is a matter of particular concern. The previous year saw a rise in “sensitive warrantless searches,” or queries that involve political and religious figures or organizations, as well as journalists. When will Congress get curious and demand the information needed to inform the Section 702 debate? Comments are closed.
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