U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) says that his "number one goal" for this year is to stop the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Jordan said as much during a recent, exclusive interview with Breitbart News.
As Breitbart notes, section 702 of FISA is the "crown jewel" of intelligence agencies.
According to National Public Radio (NPR), the statute is set to expire at the end of this current year, meaning that U.S. intelligence agencies will lose the powers granted by section 702 should Congress not reauthorize the statute.
A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) pamphlet on Section 702 reads:
Section 702 is a key provision of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 that permits the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign presons located outside the United States, with compelled assistance of electronic communciation service providers, to acquire foreign intelligence information.
The DOJ insists that this ability is a necessary one for U.S. intelligence agencies to have for national security purposes.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized this point in a letter that he sent to Congress in February, in which he argues in favor of reauthorizing Section 702.
Garland wrote:
The authority allows the U.S. Government to acquire foreign intelligence information from individual terrorists, weapons proliferators, hackers, and other foreign intelligence targets located overseas who operate using U.S. electronic communications service providers. It also requires the IC and DOJ to comply with robust privacy and civil liberties safeguards, which are overseen by all three branches of government. As the examples below demonstrate, the information acquired using Section 702 plays a key role in keeping the United States, its citizens, and its allies safe and secure.
Suffice it to say, however, that this is not how Jordan sees Section 702.
Jordan, during his Breitbart interview, said, "the number one goal I have between now and the end of the year is to stop the reauthorization of the 702 FISA program."
Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, went on to explain why it is that he does not believe Section 702 ought to be reauthorized.
According to Breitbart, Jordan "cited a recently unsealed court document that found the FBI misused FISA over 300,000 times between 2020 and early 2021."
The DOJ claims that Section 702 cannot be used to spy on Americans. But, this unsealed court document shows otherwise - it shows that Section 702 has been used to spy on Americans.
This is why Jordan has made it a "number one goal" of his to stop the reauthorization of Section 702. Let's hope he's successful.
