Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) on Thursday unveiled the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act, a bill that would reauthorize Section 702 of FISA, while protecting Americans’ civil liberties.
“National security and civil liberties are not mutually exclusive. We can give our intelligence professionals the tools they need to target foreign threats while ensuring that Americans are not subjected to unconstitutional surveillance,” Biggs told Breitbart News in a written statement.
Section 702 is a surveillance authority meant to be used to spy on foreign adversaries; however, many Americans’ private communications incidentally get surveilled without a warrant, contrary to the Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless surveillance.
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Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act by jmanship
Biggs, a privacy advocate and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance chair, proposed the legislation as Section 702 would need to be reauthorized by mid-April.
The Biggs legislation would reauthorize Section 702 until April 20, 2028, or for two years.
The bill also represents a framework for Congress to reform the spy authority as the bill approaches its mid-April deadline. Reports have suggested that the Trump administration has asked Congress to pass a clean extension of the surveillance law; however, a clean extension may be a large hurdle.
The Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act would:
- Bar warrantless queries for communications of United States person and persons located in the United States
- Enact protections for demands for data held by interactive computing services
The prohibition on warrantless searches of Americans would provide for exceptions relating to emergency situations and imminent threats.
The bill would also have the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court be provided a description of each related query no later than 90 days after the search is conducted.
The legislation also contains The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, a provision that would bar law enforcement or intelligence agencies from purchasing or obtaining Americans’ private data through third-party brokers.
The legislation would also sunset changes to the definition of electronic communication service provider, which was expanded during the last reauthorization fight and was criticized for being overly broad.
Marc Zwillinger, a top FISA expert and one of the five handpicked FISA Court Amici, explained:
The breadth of the new definition is obvious from the fact that the drafters felt compelled to exclude such ordinary places such as senior centers, hotels, and coffee shops. But for these specific exceptions, the scope of the new definition would cover them. That’s not a “narrow” change.
A coalition of pro-privacy lawmakers on Wednesday urged the House Judiciary Committee to include key reforms as part of legislation to reform Section 702. Notable organizations include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans for Prosperity, the Brennan Center for Justice, Demand Progress, and the Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability.
The coalition said that critical reforms in a FISA reauthorization bill should include:
- Close the Backdoor Search Loophole, or end warrantless surveillance against Americans
- Close the Data Broker Loophole
- Fix the overbroad electronic service provider definition
The Brennan Center wrote in a press release, “Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorizes the government to collect the communications of almost any foreigner abroad without obtaining an individualized court order.”
It continued, “Although the government may not target Americans for surveillance under Section 702, the collection inevitably sweeps in large volumes of Americans’ phone calls, texts, and emails because Americans communicate with foreigners.”
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