The findings of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board come as the White House presses Congress to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before it expires at the end of this year. Intelligence officials say Section 702 allows for investigations of Chinese and Russian espionage, possible terror plots and other threats.
But spy agencies also end up capturing the communications of American citizens and businesses, and a series of intelligence blunders at the FBI has fueled bipartisan criticism of the office that has shaped the debate over renewing the law. Some lawmakers from both parties and civil liberties groups have called for tighter restrictions on how the FBI uses spying on foreigners to search for data on Americans.
While the White House would not commit to accepting the recommended changes, administration officials on Monday praised the board’s work and again called on Congress to reauthorize the surveillance program. The board argues in its report that Section 702 is critical to national security, noting that allowing the program to lapse would be an “intelligence failure” and a setback from changes made after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. .
The board asserts that the FBI at times made “misuse” of Section 702 information. These include inquiries about the names of a federal senator and a state senator without properly narrowing the search, searching for someone believed to have been at the Capitol during the January 6, 2021 insurrection and conduct extensive name searches of protesters after the death of African-American George Floyd by police officer restraint in 2020.
The board recommends that the FBI no longer turn to the data when looking for evidence of a crime unrelated to national security. The FBI currently conducts fewer than two dozen such searches a year, a senior federal government official told reporters Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity in compliance with White House rules.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
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