{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://lahood.house.gov/2023/11/lahood-intelligence-committee-release-fisa-report-section-702-must-be-reformed", "LaHood, Intelligence Committee Release FISA Report: Section 702 Must Be Reformed", "2023-11-16", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "House", "IL", "Darin LaHood", "L000585", "lahood.house.gov", "lahood", "https://lahood.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-16) joined the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to release a report titled \u201cFISA Reauthorization: How America\u2019s Most Critical National Security Tool Must Be Reformed to Continue to Save American Lives and Liberty.\u201d The report was issued by the Majority FISA Working Group, comprised of LaHood, Chairman Mike Turner (OH-10), and Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01).\n\nIn March of 2023, Rep. LaHood pressed FBI Director Wray on FISA abuses and was appointed as the lead on the HPSCI FISA Working Group, which has worked extensively in recent months on this report and much needed reforms to the FISA Section 702 authority.\n\n\"The extensive HPSCI report outlines the important reforms needed in order to responsibly reauthorize FISA before the end of the year,\u201d said Rep. LaHood. \u201cIn the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks, our nation faces the greatest threat of terror in nearly decade. Allowing this critical national security tool to expire would put our country at greater risk. However, there have been too many abuses of the program, and it must be reformed to protect the rights and privacy of American citizens. I look forward to working with my colleagues to implement the necessary reforms outlined in our report to get this important national security tool reauthorized.\"\n\nKey takeaways:\n\nAll federal courts to date have found Section 702 constitutional (pp. 10-11) \u2013 The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits have all held that when \u201cthe target of Section 702 surveillance is a foreign national located abroad having no substantial connections with the United States, that target is not entitled to Fourth Amendment protections,\u201d even if the collection occurs inside the United States. In addition, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has repeatedly found Section 702 collection to be constitutional under the Fourth Amendment in its annual certification decisions.\n\nRegarding incidental collection of U.S. persons\u2019 communications, the Second Circuit held in United States v. Hasbajrami that when surveillance is \u201clawful in the first place . . . the incidental interception of non-targeted U.S. persons\u2019 communications with the targeted persons is also lawful.\u201d\n\nForeign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges are Senate-confirmed Article III judges (p. 16) \u2013 The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is composed of eleven Senate-confirmed federal district court judges who are appointed to serve by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Therefore, all judges who preside over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court are Article III judges. By statute, each judge serves a maximum term of seven years, and all terms are staggered so that there is continuity on the Court. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges must be selected from at least seven of the United States judicial circuits, and three of the judges must live within 20 miles of Washington, D.C. Each judge that sits on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court does so in addition to their regular caseload in their home federal district.\n\nFISA Myths vs. FISA Realties (pp. 17-20) \u2013 To address some of the popular myths surrounding FISA, a side-by-side myth vs. reality chart was included. One such myth is that if a U.S. person communicates with a target of Section 702 collection, all of the U.S. person\u2019s emails are subject to collection and review by the IC. In reality, if a U.S. person communicates with a target of Section 702 collection, only the specific correspondence in which the foreign target is a party is collected\u2014this is referred to as \u201cincidental collection.\u201d The government can never target U.S. persons whose communications are incidentally collected under Section 702.\n\nAnother myth is that Section 702 collects on all foreigners and that any foreigner you communicate with is subject to Section 702 collection. In reality, Section 702 is a highly targeted collection program that only collects on foreigners who possess or communicate specific types of foreign intelligence information. It is individualized and extremely limited.\n\nPresident Trump supported the last Section 702 reauthorization. \u2013 During the signing of S. 139, the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017, President Trump said, \u201cI would have preferred a permanent reauthorization of Title VII to protect the safety and security of the Nation. By signing this Act today, however, I am ensuring that this lawful and essential intelligence program will continue to protect Americans for at least the next six years. We cannot let our guard down in the face of foreign threats to our safety, our freedom, and our way of life.\u201d\n\nWe have 45 FISA reform proposals. (pp. 42-47) \u2013 Our reforms go beyond Section 702 to make meaningful reforms to all of FISA.\n\nNineteen Provisions Stopping FBI Querying Abuses\n\nRestricts the number of FBI personnel who can authorize a U.S. person query by more than 90 percent.\n\nRequires the FBI to obtain a warrant to conduct a query on an American for evidence of a crime.\n\nCreates specific criminal liability for 702 leaks of a U.S. person\u2019s communications.\n\nMakes FBI compensation contingent on query compliance.\n\nMandates independent audits of all FBI queries of U.S. persons.\n\nProhibits queries to suppress Americans\u2019 political opinions or religious beliefs.\n\nFourteen Provisions to Prevent Another Carter Page Abuse\n\nCreates five enhanced criminal penalties for those who violate FISA, leak FISA applications, or lie to the FISA Court.\n\nGives the FISA Court the authority to prosecute for contempt.\n\nProhibits using political opposition research and press reports to get a FISA order.\n\nSeven Provisions to Fix and Open Up the FISA Court\n\nAllows Members of Congress to attend.\n\nRequires court hearings to be transcribed and made available to Congress.\n\nAssigns a court-appointed counsel to scrutinize U.S. person surveillance applications.\n\nStops the government from shopping for FISA Court judges.\n\nOther Provisions Reflecting Congress\u2019s Opportunity to Address Political and National Security Concerns\n\nEnhances the ability of the National Security Agency to target international fentanyl trafficking operations.\n\nGives the Intelligence Community the ability to track Mexican drug cartels\u2019 burner phones.\n\nAllows all foreigners applying for a visa, immigration, or asylum to be vetted using 702 queries.\n\nClick here to read the full report.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:01:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://lahood.house.gov/2023/11/lahood-intelligence-committee-release-fisa-report-section-702-must-be-reformed"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8680247701704502, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}