The New FISA Law if Enacted is the Full Welcoming of Big Brother into Our Lives

To start, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a remarkably self-centered and corrupt egomaniac, included an amendment in the FISA 702 reauthorization to expand the definition of foreign intelligence to allow targeting and collection of information about illicit drugs. Instead of just being about terrorism, it will expand the program to include illicit drugs.

While drugs are bad, imagine the many multiples more of persons, whether directly, tangentially or indirectly, connected to illicit drug trade when compared to terrorism, and illicit drugs may include things as benign as hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin or viagra acquired without a prescription from India for off-label use.

Further background on FISA abuses and the spying framework from members that have concerns are below:

Rep. Jim Jordan stated:

Mr. Chair, in 2021, 2022, the FBI did over 3 million U.S. person queries of this giant 702 database--of this giant haystack of information, 3 million queries of United States persons. Make no mistake, query is a fancy name for search. Three million Americans' data was searched in this database of information, and guess what? The FBI wasn't even following their own rules when they conducted those searches. That is why we need a warrant.  This is not   Jim Jordan talking about it. This is not Ranking Member Nadler talking about it, but The Washington Post reported last May that 278,000 times the FBI found, the Justice Department found, that they didn't even follow their own darn rules when they searched this giant haystack, this giant database of information on Americans.  What we are saying is, let's do something that the Constitution has had in place for a couple hundred years that has served our Nation well and protected American citizens' liberties. Let's make the executive branch go to a separate and equal branch of government, the judicial branch, and get a probable cause warrant to do the search.  After all, it has done pretty well for this great country, greatest country ever, for a long, long time. Why wouldn't we have that here?  By the way, in a bipartisan fashion coming out of our committee, 35-2 vote, we said we will even put exceptions in there. If it is an emergency situation, the FBI doesn't have to get a warrant. They can do the search. If it is an emergency situation, they can do it. We have put exceptions in there.

Here is the fundamental question that I raised the other day: Of the over 3 million searches in a 2-year time span, how many of those aren't covered by the exceptions we have in our warrant amendment? What is the number? Guess what? We can't get an answer. They won't tell us, which should be concerning in and of itself, but if it is a big number, we should be particularly frightened.  If they don't follow the exceptions and they are searching Americans, searching your name, your phone number, your email address in this giant database, that should scare us. And if it is a small number, then what is the big deal? We can't get an answer to that question.
The underlying bill has got some changes and reforms that are positive, that are good, but short of having this warrant amendment added to the legislation, we shouldn't pass it.  This amendment is critical, particularly when you think about the 278,000 times they abused the system, didn't follow their own rules. Now we say, oh, we have got some new rules, they will follow them now. No. No.  The real check we have in our system is a separate and equal branch of government signing off on it. That is how we do things in America. And never forget, this is the FBI who has had some other abuses in different areas.  This is why we think this warrant requirement is so darn important, and I reserve the balance of my time.

More surprising - Rep. Jerry Nadler, a notoriously terrible Democrat and Trump hater, is actually even concerned about this bill, and provides a clear description of what FISA 702 does:

“FISA section 702 permits the intelligence community to sweep up the communication of foreign targets located overseas. When these communications are obtained, they go into what is known as a 702 database where all the 702 data is housed.  If the U.S. Government wants to target a U.S. person for foreign surveillance, U.S. person meaning an American or legal permanent resident, they already can. They do this by getting a warrant under title I of FISA, a separate and distinct part of FISA from section 702.

The government cannot target Americans under 702 because 702 does not protect the constitutional rights of the targets of the surveillance. Foreigners not located on U.S. soil do not have constitutional rights, so this is not a problem.  What is a problem, however, is that massive amounts of Americans' communications are still swept up in 702 searches. If a U.S. person communicates with a foreign target, that American's communications with the target end up in the 702 database, too. While we do not know precise numbers, we know that a vast amount of Americans' communications is swept up every year.  The intelligence community is not supposed to search the 702 database for U.S. person identifiers, like our names, phone numbers, and addresses without cause. Searching for Americans' private communications in the 702 database, communications the government otherwise would not have access to without a warrant, is the constitutional equivalent of conducting a warrantless search.  We know that the government breaks this law all the time--278,000 times, in fact, at last count in 2021 alone. Officials are supposed to find it reasonably likely that a query will turn up evidence of a crime or foreign intelligence information, but that did not stop them from searching for protesters, politicians, and political donors, to name a few, without proper predicate.  Because of these repeated violations, Chairman Jordan and I agree that the only way to preserve Americans' privacy and constitutional rights is to require the intelligence community to obtain a probable cause warrant when they want to search the communications of Americans housed in the 702 database. This is a basic tenet of the Fourth Amendment.  Now, Chairman Turner stated incorrectly that the proposed warrant requirement gives constitutional rights to suspected terrorists abroad. Nonsense. The warrant requirement does not change any aspect of surveillance of valid targets under section 702, nor should it. The problem is that when we surveil the internet, we sweep up massive amounts of U.S. person information, and the warrant requirement we propose would apply the Fourth Amendment to that information--nothing more, and our Constitution demands nothing less.  We have repeatedly heard some of our colleagues tell us that the sky is falling; that a probable cause requirement would end U.S. person searches of the 702 database, but there are no facts to back up these claims.

We will be considering an amendment today to add a warrant requirement for U.S. person searches of the 702 database. This essential amendment makes exceptions for victim consent, cybersecurity cases, and exigencies, that is, emergencies. Thus, the vast majority of these searches can continue without a warrant, but for the small percentage of searches of Americans' communications that would be affected, the government should have probable cause to search their communications.

As reported by Zerohedge:

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden described the bill as “terrifying” and said he would do everything in his power to prevent it from being passed through the Senate.

“This bill represents one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.”

Republican Congressperson Anna Paulina Luna, who voted against the bill in the House of Representatives, strategically moved to gain a second vote after the first vote had failed in a tie, said Section 702 was an “irresponsible extension” of the NSA’s powers. Rep. Luna added that if government agencies wanted access to data, they must be forced to apply for a warrant.  Sadly, Rep. Luna’s second effort fared worse than the first one as the establishment dug in and threatened members to bring them in line.

And reported in the cointelegraph:

The United States National Security Agency (NSA) is only days away from “taking over the internet” with a massive expansion of its surveillance powers, according to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The bill is slated for a vote on April 19 in the U.S. Senate:

Given legitimate bipartisan interest in curtailing FISA abuse, perhaps there is hope in the Senate – though limited hope if history and Senator Schumer are any guide. 

Contact your Senator – in your words remind them that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely; that the people just need Congress to show some self-restraint; to stop pretending they are gods, and remember the Devil is the one that takes free will.