Post by willie with tan lines on Aug 31, 2017 19:28:08 GMT -8
Key surveillance powers granted to U.S. intelligence agencies for collecting information and monitoring national security threats outside the U.S. are set to expire unless Congress reauthorizes them before the end of the year, and finding consensus won't be easy.
Known as FISA Section 702, the crucial component of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows the U.S. intelligence community to conduct surveillance of non-U.S. persons of foreign intelligence interest who are located outside of the U.S.
Section 702 was last reauthorized in 2012 without any reforms in the FISA Amendments Act, over the protests of privacy advocates.
But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Independent Journal Review in an interview Wednesday that reauthorizing Section 702 without enhanced privacy protections won't be as simple this time around.
“We'll do anything we can to try and stop it, and that includes filibuster,” Paul said.
That doesn't jibe with the surveillance-friendly position of most Republicans, such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who recently introduced a bill to make the Section 702 powers permanent. But the reauthorization will be subject to a 60-vote threshold for passage, and there are only 52 Republicans in the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to court Democrats for support.
Paul said he expects to team with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and others to buck leadership and push for changes to the law, such as requiring intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant before searching databases for information on American citizens incidentally collected under Section 702 surveillance of non-U.S. persons.
He told IJR there may be more lawmakers opposed to reauthorizing Section 702 unchanged this year than in the past for a few reasons:
First, he noted there may be more pushback from his colleagues on the other side of the aisle because “the Democrats tend to be more unified now that there's an opposite party at the White House.”
Second, Paul argued that some Republicans, such as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), may have shifted their stance on Section 702 after President Donald Trump repeatedly accused the Obama administration of surveilling and unmasking members of his presidential campaign without evidence in the spring.
“If we truly get a coalition, could we get to 40 [votes]?” Paul wondered. “There is a possibility there.”
Intelligence officials argue the program adequately protects the privacy of Americans and are emphatic Section 702 plays an indispensable role in preventing terror attacks at home and abroad, along with supporting other national security operations.
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Known as FISA Section 702, the crucial component of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows the U.S. intelligence community to conduct surveillance of non-U.S. persons of foreign intelligence interest who are located outside of the U.S.
Section 702 was last reauthorized in 2012 without any reforms in the FISA Amendments Act, over the protests of privacy advocates.
But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Independent Journal Review in an interview Wednesday that reauthorizing Section 702 without enhanced privacy protections won't be as simple this time around.
“We'll do anything we can to try and stop it, and that includes filibuster,” Paul said.
That doesn't jibe with the surveillance-friendly position of most Republicans, such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who recently introduced a bill to make the Section 702 powers permanent. But the reauthorization will be subject to a 60-vote threshold for passage, and there are only 52 Republicans in the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to court Democrats for support.
Paul said he expects to team with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and others to buck leadership and push for changes to the law, such as requiring intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant before searching databases for information on American citizens incidentally collected under Section 702 surveillance of non-U.S. persons.
He told IJR there may be more lawmakers opposed to reauthorizing Section 702 unchanged this year than in the past for a few reasons:
First, he noted there may be more pushback from his colleagues on the other side of the aisle because “the Democrats tend to be more unified now that there's an opposite party at the White House.”
Second, Paul argued that some Republicans, such as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), may have shifted their stance on Section 702 after President Donald Trump repeatedly accused the Obama administration of surveilling and unmasking members of his presidential campaign without evidence in the spring.
“If we truly get a coalition, could we get to 40 [votes]?” Paul wondered. “There is a possibility there.”
Intelligence officials argue the program adequately protects the privacy of Americans and are emphatic Section 702 plays an indispensable role in preventing terror attacks at home and abroad, along with supporting other national security operations.
...
ijr.com/2017/08/961459-surveillance-showdown-looms-rand-paul-threatens-filibuster-intelligence-reauthorization-bill/
