The White House recommended eliminating the power of the FBI to carry out searches for information related to non-national security after verifying a misuse by its part of the authority granted by section 702 of the surveillance law.
This is the conclusion of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Council (PIAB) and the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB), which were commissioned by White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to report on the section’s effectiveness. 702.
The same allows the federal government to monitor foreign citizens outside the United States to gather intelligence information to protect the country and its allies.
The FBI, according to their analysis, made an “inappropriate use of it” to make inquiries about Americans. Although no evidence was found that he did so intentionally for political purposes, those rulings are considered to have undermined public confidence in the FBI’s ability to use that authorization.
Some of those searches included citizens detained during the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol.which took place while the victory of Democrat Joe Biden over Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election was being certified.
The report estimates that most of the failures can be attributed to a lack of understanding by the FBI of the powers vested in it by that section and a lack of oversight measures in this regard.
Till the date, the Department of Justice has only identified three incidents of intentional misuse and these were subsequently handled appropriately by the FBI.
The FBI is the only agency authorized to use section 702 for evidence of non-national security related crimes.l, but the objective is to monitor foreigners who are outside the United States to obtain information and experts stress that the agency should restrict its use to its original purpose of identifying foreign intelligence.
Thus, The report recommends that Attorney General Merrick Garland be asked to remove the authority to conduct such searches on crimes related to non-national security.
“The FBI’s use of section 702 should be limited to foreign intelligence targets and FBI personnel should receive additional training on what foreign intelligence means,” the memo said.
The FBI has already undertaken, since 2021, reforms that have achieved “significant” improvements, but that are still judged insufficient.
Section 702 expires on December 31 and experts warn that if Congress does not renew it, it could be “one of the biggest intelligence failures”. For this reason, its list of recommendations calls for greater transparency and clarity in the powers they grant to eliminate suspicions and misunderstandings.
In the suggested changes also the creation of a new certificate that allows the collection of intelligence information on fentanyl is aimed at to enhance the government’s fight against this potent synthetic opioid.
Sullivan agreed that not reauthorizing section 702 would be a mistake and supported the board’s conclusion that it be extended with reforms that serve to improve compliance and oversight.
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