The government is lobbying hard to retain FISA Section 702, which it uses to gain warrantless access to Americans’ communications. At the same time, it’s stalling on a statutory obligation declassify crucial information about how this program has been operating. 1/14
— Noah Chauvin (@NoahChauvin) May 5, 2023
My @BrennanCenter colleague @LizaGoitein explained in this thread how the contents of the report underscore that Congress should not reauthorize Section 702 without wide-reaching surveillance reforms. 3/14https://t.co/8uY07Noyfj
— Noah Chauvin (@NoahChauvin) May 5, 2023
Some background: Section 702 requires ODNI and DOJ to submit to the FISA Court surveillance procedures and a certification that the government is not targeting Americans. The court can approve these procedures, or require additional information or modifications. 5/14
— Noah Chauvin (@NoahChauvin) May 5, 2023
We don’t know why it’s taking so long for the government to declassify this opinion. However, we do know that the FISA Court delayed issuing it by several months, which suggests the court was dissatisfied with the government’s use of Section 702. 7/14 pic.twitter.com/aZmBydCYR1
— Noah Chauvin (@NoahChauvin) May 5, 2023
Declassified government documents have revealed that FBI officials have conducted myriad inappropriate searches under Section 702, such as one based on a witness’s report that two men “of Middle Eastern descent” loaded cleaning supplies into a truck. 9/14 pic.twitter.com/j3eWgsfNsA
— Noah Chauvin (@NoahChauvin) May 5, 2023
The violations catalogued in previous FISA Court opinions beg the question: What led the Court to delay the 2021 certification? Was it more unlawful queries? Or was it some other systemic problem with Section 702’s operation that we don’t even know about yet? 11/14
— Noah Chauvin (@NoahChauvin) May 5, 2023
The government should release this opinion now – and pending its release, Congress must take all of the government’s claims about its recent conduct of Section 702 surveillance with a grain of salt. 13/14
— Noah Chauvin (@NoahChauvin) May 5, 2023
In addition, the surveillance reforms Congress should enact this year must include a reasonable deadline for declassifying FISA Court opinions. The government cannot be allowed to distort future legislative and public debates by delaying the release of vital information. 14/14
— Noah Chauvin (@NoahChauvin) May 5, 2023