FISA Section 702 is a foreign intelligence authority that was intended to make it easier for the government to monitor foreign terrorists overseas. Instead, it has been repeatedly abused to spy on Americans. The law will expire on April 19 unless reauthorized by Congress. On Thursday, the House will vote on the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson claims that RISAA reflects a compromise between the bipartisan Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act (H.R. 6570), offered by reformers on the House Judiciary Committee, and the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 6611), offered by those on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence who prefer the status quo. In reality, this bill is not a “compromise,” and its 56 “reforms” codify the unacceptable status quo.
The one-pager below details how RISAA is a reform bill in name only and will do nothing to prevent the government’s repeated abuses of Section 702 to spy on Americans.
RISAA- 56 So-Called Reforms That Preserve the Status Quo 4.9.24 by The Brennan Center for Justice on Scribd
