FISA Law Coming up for Renewal

“FISA Section 702 allows intelligence agencies, mainly the NSA and FBI, to surveil foreigners without a warrant. This extrajudicial power inevitably sweeps in vast troves of information on American citizens in the dragnet that can then be tapped by federal authorities, despite a warrant never being served. The FBI alone engaged in over 200,000 of these “backdoor searches” in 2022, including on political activists. Additionally, government authorities also obtain information on citizens through data brokers, because of a legal loophole in how the Fourth Amendment is implemented.

In December, a temporary extension of Section 702 was inserted into the National Defense Authorization Act, but it is set to expire in April.”

There is enormous pressure on Congress to re-authorize this law.  And if it were allowed to sunset, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the FBI arranged for a terrorist attack to occur on American soil just to blame it on the Republicans for trying to stop the intelligence agencies from spying on us.

So, I can see how Mike Johnson would be on the spot when it comes to a reauthorization.  But I’m very interested to see which way this goes.  From my point of view, I see more benefit from letting the law die and taking the hit politically if the FBI allows an attack.  But I’m an extremist at this point and don’t have to stand for re-election.

But think about it; 200,000 searches in a single year.  These people spy on us relentlessly.  Taking away this tool would do a great deal to reduce their power against us.

Tell me in the comments what you think should be done and what you think will actually happen.