Top Republican insists reforms to FBI spy tool that stops foreign terrorists will limit ‘abuse’ including surveillance of American citizens: GOP report dispels ‘myths’ about controversial program as they bid to get it reauthorized

Lawmakers are trying to debunk “myths” about the FBI’s controversial foreign spying tool by advancing a series of reforms to limit abuse before reauthorization — including improper surveillance of Americans.

The tool, Section 702 under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), allows U.S. federal intelligence agencies to conduct targeted searches of foreign nationals, which they say is critical to stopping terrorists, drug traffickers, spies and other threats to the country. national security.

However, a series of recent reports have revealed widespread abuse of the program, including hundreds of thousands of inappropriate questions from the FBI to Americans who may be communicating with the foreigners.

Mike Turner, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told DailyMail.com that the 72-page report released today contains solutions that will “significantly reduce” abuse.

“I think the reforms we have put in place significantly reduce the risk of abuse. And our reforms include significant penalties when abuse does occur,” Turner said Thursday.

The report was released by Republicans serving on the House of Representatives FISA working group, which was formed in March.

It says, “Our reforms would strip more than 90% of the FBI’s ability to authorize inquiries about U.S. persons.”

Moreover, it makes clear how much information the FBI can use when it monitors an American’s correspondence with a foreigner.

“When a U.S. person communicates with a Section 702 collection target, only the specific correspondence to which the foreign target is a party is collected – this is referred to as ‘incidental collection,’” the report says.

“The government can never target U.S. individuals whose communications are incidentally collected under Section 702.”

The report also imposes stricter audit requirements, especially since it recently came to light that Rep. Darin LaHood was improperly questioned, as well as the campaign of an unnamed senator.

“The FBI should notify the leaders of the House and Senate, and the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, if the FBI asks about a term that would mean a member of Congress identify,” the report said.

Turner aims to get a bill passed by the House and Senate after the Thanksgiving holiday before the new year, leaving just five weeks for drafting and passage.

The Republican from Dayton, Ohio, has rejected a suggestion that Congress could vote on a short extension to carry Section 702 into the new year to give lawmakers more time to reach an agreement on reauthorization.

‘I think we will succeed. I’m not working on an extension, I’m working on a bill,” Turner said.

Key Democrats are already on board and the effort is being led by Turner.

Democrat Jim Himes, a HPSCI ranking member, has worked closely with Turner on bills and the two have a productive and bipartisan relationship.

In addition, Senate Intelligence Chairman Senator Warner indicated he is “very close” to an agreement on the language of the bills, Turner told DailyMail.com.

‘I had worked with Senator Warner on these proposed reforms. And he has indicated that we are very close to agreeing on a real package of meaningful reforms.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is separately working on his own Section 702 reauthorization bill.

Turner denounced a bipartisan bill led by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released last week, that included a warrant requirement.

‘There are a lot of misconceptions about how 702 works. And this bill, I think, represents the core of most of the myths about 702,” Turner told DailyMail.com.

Under Wyden’s legislation, this would be “incredibly dangerous to our country,” Turner continued, especially since FBI Director Chris Wray has stated that the terrorist threat to the country is high.

“The reality is that the threat of terrorism has increased in 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has taken the threat of an attack on Americans in the United States to a whole new level,” Wray told Congress in late October. .

Turner says his committee and the White House have communicated throughout the process.

The White House is in favor of no warrant requirements as part of any future deal the president could sign, which Turner said is consistent with the committee’s report.

Turner said: “The question is, should there be arrest warrants? No.’

“There is no constitutional protection for contacts with a terrorist organization outside the US,” he added.

Turner explained the importance of Section 702 in light of recent attempts by terrorist-linked groups to organize rallies across the country.

The X account of the Hamas-affiliated group Samidoun wrote on the social media platform last month, encouraging their supporters to protest outside the home of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

At Samidoun’s urging, 100 protesters were arrested after they showed up outside Schumer’s home in Brooklyn.

The demonstrators called for a halt to US aid to Israel on a day of mass protests in New York and around the world after Hamas’s leader called for a global “day of outrage.”

Turner said that although the 100 arrested U.S. protesters now have ties to Samidoun, a Hamas front organization, they would not be interrogated under Section 702.

However, if investigators believe there was criminal activity, they can go to FISA court and get a subpoena for the information.

“We can see if any of the (arrested) people are communicating with international terrorists.”

“If they are in Hamas’s data, we should have access to them. We do not need, and should not need, a warrant to look at legally and constitutionally collected Hamas data.”