House-Passed Reforms To Section 702 Increase Both Transparency And Accountability

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding FISA:

"As I discussed earlier this week, critical national security authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are set to expire in two days. Today, I'd like to briefly address the newest red herring being raised in opposition to reauthorizing Section 702.

"The reauthorization that passed the House contained scores of important reforms to the FISA process that will enhance accountability at the FBI and protect the rights of American citizens.

"It also included a necessary fix to the way we authorize the government to lawfully collect communications from foreigners located overseas for a specific intelligence purpose.

"As part of the standard judicial oversight of the Section 702 process, the Intelligence Community has been restricted in what kinds of technology counts as 'Electronic Communications Service Providers' under the statute. When Section 702 was written, the Internet was in the dark ages compared to how it exists today.

"Clearly, social media and internet communications usage has changed dramatically since the earliest days of Twitter. And so have the technical mechanisms by which massive packets of data transit the Internet.

"As the Internet evolved, the FISA court did not allow DOJ on its own to expand the definition of a provider to meet the new realities of contemporary technology.

"This created a critical, unintended gap in our collection ability against overseas, foreign targets.

"Here's the good news: the House did on a strong bipartisan basis what legislatures should do. In fact, a majority of the majority - and a majority of the minority - voted to change the statute to make sure that our collection ability on foreigners overseas reflects the reality of modern communication. It was a simple fix to update the law to respond to technological change.

"But to listen to the Chicken Littles on the left, the sky is falling! The ACLU says this will expand warrantless surveillance and strongly implies that it will do so against Americans as they go about their daily lives.

"Demand Progress - an activist arm of Arabella Advisors - says 'everyone is a spy' under this provision.

"Well, excuse me if I don't take my cues from liberal court-packers.

"This could not be further from the truth. The House bill's simple fix does nothing to change who gets targeted by Section 702: foreigners, overseas, whose communications are likely to return important intelligence.

"The FISA appellate court affirmed this in the decision that predicated the legislative fix, saying, 'Under Section 702 the Government is prohibited from intentionally targeting any person known at the time of acquisition to be located in the United States.'

"Even foreigners located in the United States. Even foreigners operating illegally in the United States.

"The court went on, saying, 'customers using WiFi access provided by a cafe or library, for example, would not be targeted under Section 702, regardless of whether the Internet connectivity being provided is considered an 'electronic communications service.'

"So let me say that again, 'they would not be targeted under Section 702.' Nor, contrary to the fears of some of our colleagues, would U.S. persons be at risk of drone strikes as they surfed the Internet on public internet networks.

"Nothing has been expanded. Section 702 still rightly only applies to foreigners overseas. All that the House did was fix a dangerous loophole that would have allowed our foreign adversaries to escape the reach of our intelligence services.

"Trust but verify, right? Well, this bill helps us do precisely that.

"It includes significant reforms that dramatically enhance transparency into how Section 702 is used by the Intelligence Community.

"It includes important reforms to prevent misuse of the authority and require accountability for any such misuse - including new civil and criminal penalties.

"So I will urge my colleagues to look at the facts of this latest fearmongering crusade, to soberly examine the same classified material our House colleagues read that explains this provision in detail, to reject hyperbole and lies, and take action to secure the homeland."

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