G.O.P. Threatens Spy Agencies' Surveillance Tool

[Zorro]

With hard-right Republicans attacking federal law enforcement agencies and unwilling to extend their broad powers, a major warrantless surveillance program targeting foreigners overseas may face new limits from Congress.

An intensive drive by right-wing Republicans in Congress to vilify the F.B.I. with charges of political bias has imperiled a program allowing spy agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance on foreign targets, sapping support for a premier intelligence tool and amplifying demands for stricter limits.

The once-secret program — created after the 9/11 attacks and described by intelligence officials as crucial to stopping overseas hackers, spy services and terrorists — has long faced resistance by Democrats concerned that it could trample on Americans’ civil liberties. But the law authorizing it is set to expire in December, and opposition among Republicans, who have historically championed it, has grown as the G.O.P. has stepped up its attacks on the F.B.I., taking a page from former President Donald J. Trump and his supporters.

“There’s no way we’re going to be for reauthorizing that in its current form — no possible way,” said Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, a key ally of Mr. Trump’s who is leading a special House investigation into the “weaponization” of government against conservatives. “We’re concerned about surveillance, period.”

At issue is a program that allows the government to collect — on domestic soil and without a warrant — the communications of targeted foreigners abroad, including when those people are interacting with Americans. Leaders of both parties have warned the Biden administration that Congress will not renew the law that legalized it, known as Section 702, without changes to prevent federal agents from freely searching the email, phone and other electronic records of Americans in touch with surveilled foreigners.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/03/us/section-702-spying.html?unlocked_article_code=V7mRqBccdPWTKQk0zNqvNfBbf7wgMA83Q-mvZ3bKTiGQp5XxuqFhmk6KtJFZFs06dD7UnrJkHI77U6QYSa8C3g06CSZyllXQnGgPNbJhbFEhi9ZEzR9aTYPCMIxjTU9VNsv9oLT9Fs2a_l_U0_THobStMvW6EQV5Qp6OPk2uVAKSmQSWL_BAPIiijCvPozsf0ewmUBwiOcwkT8wMr5GgTlO_w3puU2MGNq_dn3J-slZw10z8nZIDU-N_o0gr1rUWwYsu9jKMYKqc9tYu9yU8deIz-4yz5cAFplIIE0JBMsZoA2xBcYuwRGXYBKHV8jwqMRUdAcqWgw&smid=url-share

Is this threat due to Republicans not wanting their contacts with foreign adversaries exposed?

[Darwins_Retriever]

1. Section 702 is exactly what Republicans would want.

But they would like Biden to be tagged with this fascist activity.

At issue is a program that allows the government to collect — on domestic soil and without a warrant — the communications of targeted foreigners abroad, including when those people are interacting with Americans. Leaders of both parties have warned the Biden administration that Congress will not renew the law that legalized it, known as Section 702, without changes to prevent federal agents from freely searching the email, phone and other electronic records of Americans in touch with surveilled foreigners.

I see nothing wrong with killing Section 702. Intelligence agencies should not spy on US citizens without approval of the court. Most likely the communications with a targeted non-US entity would be sufficient or a court.

[dutch777]

2. There are workarounds to this. NSA and others have been using them for decades.

Cooperative agreements, formal and informal, have the UK, Australia and many others monitoring intelligence targets we can't reach or are not allowed to by law. Then magically we get the info but we weren't the ones doing the spying on US citizens or interests. No US law broken. Problem solved. Assume anything you say by any electronic means is being collected either as part of metadata collection or as verbatim transcription. 99.9% of this is never looked at by anyone and is just stored in giant databases but about the time you accidentally or otherwise get on an email string that includes a "bad guy" or other target entity, you come onto the radar for more scrutiny.

[Fullduplexxx]

3. This how they got trump

Democrats should start screaming ... the republicans are giving up our security to terrorists ... soft on crime ... making it easier for our enemies etc..