Senator Cramer Joins Colleagues in Calling for Reforms of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702

BISMARCK - Enacted in 2008, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) gives the federal government authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of suspected foreign terrorists located abroad. Specifically, the law allows the government to target almost any person or group abroad and acquire their communications without an individualized court order. However, Americans' communications are inevitably caught up in the surveillance and their information has been abused by federal agencies.

Without an extension, Section 702 of FISA is set to expire on April 19, 2024. To ensure this section is used appropriately, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) in cosponsoringthe Security and Freedom Enhancement Act of 2024 (SAFE Act). In addition to extending Section 702 of FISA through December 31, 2027, the bill implements vital reforms to protect the civil liberties of Americans.

"Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has been abused and any reauthorization demands we protect Americans' Fourth Amendment rights. The program needs guardrails to protect Americans from an ever-intrusive and all too often corrupt federal government, especially the DOJ," said Cramer."By reinforcing these protections, we uphold our sacred duty to preserve national security and every American's fundamental rights."

The SAFE Act proposes several key reforms to FISA Section 702, including:

• Requiring intelligence agencies to obtain a FISA Title I order or a warrant before accessing the contents of Americans' communications collected under Section 702-but not before running queries.
• Closing the "data broker loophole" used by intelligence and law enforcement agencies to buy their way around the Fourth Amendment and statutory privacy protections by purchasing Americans' sensitive information, including location history, from commercial data brokers.
• Bolstering the role of amici curiae who assist the FISA Court in evaluating arguments presented by the Department of Justice by creating a presumption amici should participate in certain particularly sensitive or important matters and by increasing amici's access to information.
• Adopting provisions requiring additional layers of internal supervision of U.S. person queries and other measures to increase accountability, compliance, and oversight.

Click here for the bill.