SurveillanceFBI, NSA want surveillance measures to remain in reauthorized Patriot Act

On 1 June, Section 215 of the U.S.A Patriot Act, which permits law enforcement and intelligence agencies to collect certain customers’ records from U.S. businesses including communications and credit card firms, is set to expire. Congress has been debating whether to reauthorize the section of the act or pass measures that will curb the level of surveillance it currently grants. In recent days, representatives from the NSA and the FBI have been meeting with legislators to inform them of the importance of Section 215, still both chambers of Congress seem to be uncertain on how to move forward.

“Our questions about constitutionality and legality were answered with statements of efficacy. We said, ‘How can this possibly be legal?’ and they would say, ‘this program works great, here’s how it’s helping us catch terrorists,’” Representative Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) toldtheGuardian.

In March, Massie co-sponsored the Surveillance State Repeal Act, introduced by Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) to repeal the Patriot Act and a 2008 expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The bill also protects national security whistleblowers from retaliation, and makes probable cause the basis for foreign intelligence surveillance of an American or someone on U.S. soil. Today, the bill only has ten co-sponsors. “It’s very long odds, but it’s a statement about what needs to happen. It’s a stronger Freedom Act that’s not going to get watered down,” Massie said.

In briefings arranged by Republican leaders of the House intelligence committee between NSA and FBI officials and members of Congress, the FBI warned that failure to reauthorize Section 215 will disrupt pending investigations and leads for domestic terrorism and espionage cases. The briefs given to members of Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday “offer important opportunity to hear directly from analysts and operators who use Section 215 as part of their daily mission to protect the Nation from terrorist attacks,” according to an announcement to legislators sent by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Georgia).

Congressional supporters of Section 215 have yet to propose a passable bill to preserve the powers it grants. On Tuesday, Senator Dan Coats (R-Indiana) said the shape of a reauthorization bill was under “ongoing discussion.”

According to sources on the Hill, an option under consideration is to reintroduce the White House-supported USA Freedom Act, which passed the House in May 2014, but failed in the Senate in November. The revived bill would extend Section 215 and under it, the NSA would no longer collect customer phone records or metadata. Instead, phone companies would keep the records, and the NSA would have to request for specific data. Privacy activists and civil-libertarians still are not pleased and consider the USA Freedom Act insufficient. “We should be demanding more reforms than the intelligence agencies are gladly willing to offer us,” said David Segal of the activist group Demand Progress.

After the NSA and FBI briefings on Tuesday, Representative Massie said he sees a “tremendous opportunity” for surveillance reform, pointing at the contributions of new Congressional members, many of whom lean towards civil libertarians. “A lot of it is going to hinge on the freshmen. Right now, as far as I can tell, the select intelligence committee is making a real strong play to persuade the freshmen that all of these public concerns are overblown,” Massie said.