https://nypost.com/2024/04/08/...s-set-to-renew-fisa/

The House of Representatives will likely vote this week to continue letting the feds secretly spy on American citizens for another five years with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, writes columnist James Bovard.

Promising reforms is the easiest way to perpetuate abuses in Washington.

For more than a decade, illegal federal-surveillance scandals have rocked the nation.

Unfortunately, the House of Representatives will likely vote this week to continue letting the feds secretly spy on American citizens for another five years.

Whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had unleashed federal agencies to snoop on anyone they pleased, including anyone “searching the web for suspicious stuff.”

In 2016, a top FBI lawyer made false claims to the FISA court to launch turbo-charged surveillance of a Trump campaign official, helping open the door to the Russiagate bogus scandal that rocked the Trump presidency.

Justice Department inspector-general reports have repeatedly exposed FISA violations since then.

A coalition of principled Republican and Democratic members of Congress vigorously pushed for ending the warrantless searches of Americans’ data in December.

The law was temporarily extended but expires April 19.

Under FISA Section 702, the National Security Agency vacuums up troves of information as part of its foreign surveillance.

But vast amounts of Americans’ personal data are also incidentally snared.

Perpetual abuses have occurred when the FBI sifts through Americans’ emails and other information without a search warrant.

This is why Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) quipped that FISA stands for “Federal Investigators Stalking Americans.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) seemed to agree, just declaring in a Dear Colleague letter, “I can state unequivocally that the FBI terribly abused the FISA authority in recent years, and in turn, violated the trust and confidence of the American people.”

But Johnson has betrayed reformers and helped scuttle any attempt for meaningful limits on FISA spying on Americans.

In lieu of requiring a search warrant, Johnson and the Deep State fan club on Capitol Hill are pushing the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act.

Proponents boast that the bill includes 56 reforms to protect Americans’ rights.

Some of the “reforms” should have made this bill a laughingstock:

Requires FBI to establish minimum accountability standards for employees.
Requiring FBI personnel who conduct 702 queries to undergo annual training.
Why didn’t proponents add two more provisions — “cross their Ts” and “dot their Is” — and claim the bill has 58 fixes for FISA?

Capitol Hill is a surreal atmosphere where almost all prior government abuses vanish into mist when congressmen seek to perpetuate federal power.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) is relying on Orwellian-caliber falsehoods to spur support for reauthorization: “We are not spying on Americans. This is not a warrantless-surveillance program.”

On Sunday night, Turner told Politico: “FISA is about surveillance of foreigners abroad — the issues of Americans’ privacy and data are unrelated to our spying on foreigners.”

Plus or minus 3,394,053?

That’s the number of Americans whose privacy was unjustifiably zapped by FBI warrantless searches using Section 702 in a single year, per a 2022 federal report.

Turner did not disclose what size broom he used to sweep 3+ million cases under a rug.

FBI chief Christopher Wray testified last month that the bureau’s FISA reforms “are working” with a stratospheric rate of compliance.

But the FBI admitted to conducting 278,000 illicit searches of Americans in 2020 and early 2021 (the period covered by the FISA court ruling released last year).

The FBI abused FISA to target people who notified the FBI of crimes, repairmen entering FBI facilities and even chumps who volunteer for the FBI “Citizens Academy” program.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) led the push to require the FBI get a search warrant to pilfer through Americans’ personal information.

But the RISA pseudo-reform instead would merely “require approval from an FBI lawyer for database searches about Americans.”

It was FBI lawyers that inspector-general reports condemned for brazen falsehoods and abuses in the FISA targeting of the Trump campaign in 2016 and 2017.

Maybe just rewrite the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on “unreasonable searches and seizures” by adding “except when approved by an FBI lawyer”?

Or simply replace the Fourth Amendment with a catch-all phrase: “For your own good”?

Republicans who are scurrying to perpetuate FISA could enable Team Biden to steal the 2024 presidential election.

The 2016 election settled any doubts about whether FBI officials would abuse FISA to undermine a presidential candidate.

Why expect Biden appointees to be more scrupulous than were Obama administration officials eight years ago?

Any politicians who dishonestly deny past outrages cannot be trusted to prevent future abuses.

Confessing millions of violations of Americans’ privacy is not “close enough for government work” in safeguarding constitutional rights.

As Sen. Lee observed, “The government has lied, obfuscated, cheated, and manipulated FISA 702, depriving Americans of one of our core constitutional protections.”

The uniparty at work extending and securing their power.

The feds don’t “secretly” do anything anymore. They just do it the open.

Intelligence agencies shouldn’t need warrants for conducting gathering on foreigners in foreign lands.

EVERY agency wanting to spy on or listen to, should need a single warrant for each person or business in CONUS

Just one more step by the .gov to do everything possible to destroy America before Trump can take office...

No thanks to the speaker.

I guess we are down to 19 real Republicans?

House Lawmakers Strike Down FISA Renewal Measure

Topline

House lawmakers voted against a procedural measure that would have begun debate to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, hours after former President Donald Trump encouraged lawmakers to “KILL FISA.”

Key Facts

The measure, backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R.-La., and President Joe Biden, would have extended intelligence officials’ ability under Section 702 of the controversial FISA Act to conduct “targeted surveillance” of non-U.S. citizens overseas using an FBI database, which critics say can tangentially collect data from citizens who communicate with non-U.S. targets.

It was blocked in a 193-228 vote with 19 Republican lawmakers voting against it, as a cohort of GOP members have repeatedly raised concerns that current provisions in the bill don’t go far enough to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens—including pushing for the inclusion of a warrant requirement.

Section 702 of FISA is set to expire on April 19, after Congress extended the funding deadline in December following multiple failed attempts to pass the bill amid Republican infighting and debate over the warrant provision.
What To Watch For

With Section 702 set to expire in a little over a week, it is unclear exactly what lawmakers will do to get it reauthorized, though Johnson reportedly said lawmakers will “regroup and reformulate another plan” ahead of a closed-door meeting later on Wednesday, according to Politico. However, the Biden administration reportedly expects it would remain operational for another year despite its looming expiration, according to CBS News .
Chief Critic

Trump claimed Wednesday that the law “was illegally used against” him to spy on his campaign, in reference to the Justice Department’s 2020 findings that the FBI improperly obtained two of four warrants while investigating a former campaign associate—but the warrants were acquired under a different section of FISA that is not currently up for reauthorization.
Crucial Quote

“I voted NO on the rule for FISA,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said in a post on X. “We should NOT be spying on Americans, especially without a search warrant.”
Key Background

Congress first authorized FISA Section 702 in 2008, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with the intent to monitor noncitizens outside of the U.S. The law has become increasingly controversial since its inception, with critics claiming its wide-ranging nature can lead to collection of U.S. citizens’ data, according to NBC News. A May 2023 report from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court found the FBI misused the tool nearly 300,000 times between 2020 and early 2021, including collecting information on Jan. 6 rioters and Black Lives Matter protesters.
Tangent

In late March, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion to vacate Johnson’s speakership after he brought a $1.2 trillion funding package to the floor to avoid a partial government shutdown. Greene reportedly said she told Johnson she was "watching what happens" in regard to the FISA reauthorization bill—and Ukraine funding—ahead of Wednesday’s FISA vote, according to Axios.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/c...ure/?sh=5b9f6e986e20

^^^ Wow! That's encouraging.

quote:

House Lawmakers Strike Down FISA Renewal Measure

Big win for the Constitution and liberty.

This motherfucker

https://twitter.com/jsolomonRe.../1778208293363597337

The Speaker is looking more and more to be just another RINO, I had hoped differently.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
The Speaker is looking more and more to be just another RINO, I had hoped differently.

That conversation that he had with Paul Ryan:

"Toe the line or you'll pay dearly."

I could of swore that was barnie frank, not bb. samo, samo.

Cut it out

Who gives a fuck what he looks like?

yep, encouraging.

Not encouraging are the number of policians who have seen the impact of FISA and said, "Yeah, we should extend that!"

https://twitter.com/charliekir.../1778173905305543144




19 Republicans voted with Dems to KILL the renewal of FISA and the warrantless surveillance of Americans. They are heroes.

Rep. Andy Biggs AZ
Rep. Dan Bishop NC
Rep. Lauren Boebert CO
Rep. Tim Burchett TN
Rep. Michael Cloud TX
Rep. Eli Crane AZ
Rep. Matt Gaetz FL
Rep. Bob Good VA
Rep. Paul Gosar AZ
Rep. Clay Higgins LA
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna FL
Rep. Nancy Mace SC
Rep. Cory Mills FL
Rep. Ralph Norman SC
Rep. Andy Ogles TN
Rep. Scott Perry PA
Rep. Matt Rosendale MT
Rep. Chip Roy TX
Rep. Greg Steube FL

^^^^ MTG, where the hell were you?

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
The Speaker is looking more and more to be just another RINO, I had hoped differently.

What a total disappointment he has been. I thought the Democrats made a huge mistake getting rid of Kevin McCarthy because we ended up with Mike Johnson. Boy was I wrong. The Dems either knew something the Republicans didn’t know or he’s bought off.

He is on the side of FISA and sending more money to Ukraine.