Homeland Security Adviser Urges Congress to Renew Controversial Surveillance Power

One of President Donald Trump’s top advisers called on Congress to reauthorize authorities that gives intelligence agencies the ability to collect and analyze communications of foreigners outside the US Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert said Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—set to expire in December—is the best means for intelligence agencies to monitor terrorist threats en masse given today’s internet-driven world.

“The terrorist threat isn’t going to sunset, so the authority shouldn’t either,” he said at the Intelligence and National Security Summit.The provision in the FISA amendment act dates back to 2008 and previously reauthorized in 2012. While the intelligence community including the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency has advocated for its renewal, Section 702 has critics in Congress and among privacy advocates. Critics contend the authority allows intelligence agencies to scoop up emails, text messages and other communications of Americans who communicate with foreign targets or mention potential targets in conversations with non-targeted foreigners.