Good day all. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA as it is better known, is a system that allows the DoJ to wiretap people using secret warrants. When the Greatest President of the 21st Century, Donald Trump, won the election, the Deep State used these on anyone connected to President Trump.
We now know just how badly these FISA request were, and that in many cases the affidavits used to get the FISA judges to approve the warrants were flat out made up. Now the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is coming up for renewal and the Maladministration is pressing Congress to renew it. Here are the details from the Daily Wire:
Ahead of an expiration date at the end of the year, the Biden administration formally requested on Tuesday that Congress reauthorize Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial spy program used to combat threats around the world.
If it were actually used for that purpose, most people wouldn’t be to concerned.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines sent a letter to congressional leaders arguing that maintaining Title VII is a “top legislative priority” for the Biden administration. The letter places particular emphasis on Section 702, which was enacted in 2008 and is used to monitor non-U.S. citizens abroad, but Title VII also contains other sections that concern procedures and protections for surveillance of U.S. persons abroad.
The problem with Title VII is that it gets ignored, generally by Democrat regimes such as Obama. I don’t doubt that Bush II also abused it to some extent.
Garland and Haines argue Section 702 has been critical in identifying and protecting against national security threats to the United States and its allies, including “conventional and cyber threats” posed by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
They listed some examples touting Section 702’s usefulness, including noting that it contributed to the operation that led to a CIA drone strike in Afghanistan killing Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in 2022.
That is just good old fashioned signals intelligence and we’ve been doing that since radio became a thing. That isn’t the problem. The problem is when they intercept American citizens, especially when they are inside the United States.
Privacy and civil liberty advocates have raised concerns about warrantless surveillance due to the mass incidental collection of data, including the communications of Americans in contact with a foreign target, and the mishandling of surveillance powers, such as the FBI’s targeting of a Trump 2016 campaign aide using an unverified dossier.
Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have already signaled opposition to FISA as it stands. Among them are Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who this month called for “meaningful reforms” to protect Fourth Amendment rights, and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray two weeks ago demanding answers about “backdoor searches” sifting through FISA data that appear to have targeted politicians.
“My colleagues and I in Congress are currently weighing whether FISA 702 authorities should be reauthorized beyond December 31, 2023,” Biggs said. “Unless we receive prompt and thorough responses from Director Wray, we cannot proceed forward with that process.”
I wouldn’t count on Wray for much. He was one of President Trump’s hiring mistakes. I have a sneaking suspicion that if President Trump runs and wins a second term, Wray will be out on the unemployment line shortly after the inauguration.
Members of Congress will have a chance to grill the Biden administration about the FISA program, as Garland and Haines are set to appear before key committees in the coming days.
Pity they won’t be using an actual grill. There is nothing quite like barbecued bureaucrat.
In their letter, Garland and Haines said the intelligence community and Justice Department “are committed to engaging with Congress on potential improvements to the authority that fully preserve its efficacy.”
In other words, “Just renew it and go away. Trust us, we know what we’re doing. We’re professionals!” I’m of the opinion that FISA needs to just go away. It was passed back in 1978 and was in response to the Church Committee which found out how much the FBI and the intelligence agencies were spying on American citizens in violation of the 4th Amendment.
The problem here is that these agencies are still abusing the 4th Amendment, they just have to jump through a few extra hoops in order to do it. This thing can’t be reformed or salvaged, it needs to be shut down. If the congress really wants to fix FISA, then there are a federal agents and some rubber stamp judges who need to go to jail. Since that isn’t going to happen Congress should let it expire. Whether they will or not is another question.
Thatisall
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