The House of Representatives delayed a vote on reforming a controversial surveillance tool shortly after lawmakers warned of a “national security threat,” according to Speaker Mike Johnson’s deputy chief for communications, Raj Shah.
The chairman of the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday published a statement requesting President Joe Biden declassify information regarding an unspecified “serious national security threat.”
Congress had been considering a compromise bill to reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act(FISA), but the process has been postponed.
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“In order to allow Congress more time to reach consensus on how best to reform FISA and Section 702 while maintaining the integrity of our critical national security programs, the House will consider the reform and reauthorization bill at a later date,” Shah posted.
The committee “has made available to all members of Congress information concerning a serious national security threat,” Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio Turner wrote in the statement. “I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the Administration and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat.”
The bill under consideration would not require the government to get a warrant to surveil Americans but instead would impose strict restrictions on these warrantless searches. This has been a point of contention in the House as the Freedom Caucus on Tuesday demanded an amendment to require a warrant, according to The Hill.
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The FBI abused Section 702 of FISA nearly 300,000 times between 2020 and early 2021, running 23,132 inquiries alone after Jan. 6., according to a court document.
“[Section] 702 is key to our ability to detect a foreign terrorist organization overseas directing an operative here to carry out an attack in our own backyard, and U.S.-person queries, in particular, may provide the critical link that allows us to identify the intended target or build out the network of attackers so we can stop them before they strike and kill Americans,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in December.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this had something to do with the fact that FISA is up for review…Anytime you start talking about FISA reform, you know, the intel community has this way of bringing out the boogey man,” Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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