Privacy-minded Senate Judiciary members rehashed their support for adding a warrant requirement to a powerful surveillance authority at a hearing Wednesday, as lawmakers face an April deadline to reauthorize the program.
Lawmakers during the last reauthorization cycle were bitterly split over the extent of privacy protections for Americans in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. government to collect digital communications of foreigners located outside the country.
And remarks from senators on Wednesday made clear the issue would be front and center once again, the latest in a long-running debate over whether the communications of Americans swept up under Section 702 should be subjected to a warrant requirement.
The program is touted by national security experts who say it allows the U.S. government to disrupt threats. But it’s been the subject of heavy criticism because it allows the FBI to search through data without a warrant, using information such as an email address.
Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the top Democrat on the panel, said there is no doubt that Section 702 is valuable. “However, for years, the government has used it as a domestic spying tool to collect millions, maybe billions, of Americans’ private communications,” Durbin said.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said the program acts as a dragnet, picking up huge amounts of information. “Why shouldn’t we say — ‘Actually, yes, when you go to this massive database and ask about a U.S. person, that’s a Fourth Amendment event that requires some process, some scrutiny,’” Hawley said.
