The Surveillance Saga
Trump's alarming pick of Bill Pulte to head U.S. intelligence derailed the renewal of Section 702 of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, throwing its future into limbo
FISA Section 702 is back in the headlines. And given the shaky state of affairs at the top of U.S. intelligence, it’s no wonder.
That passage in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has long been controversial, because it permits the warrantless collection of Americans’ private communications—calls, texts, and emails—linked to targeted foreigners. Its supporters say it’s an indispensable tool for thwarting terrorist plots against the U.S., and that U.S. persons are not being illegally monitored—just “incidentally” picked up in those communications. The problem is that once information is in the hands of the government, it is then often shared and investigated further among U.S. intelligence agencies, in particular the FBI, in so-called “backdoor searches.” In other words, 702 has been used to authorize violations of Fourth Amendment protections against illegal searches.
