Grassley Calls for Clean FISA Extension after Securing Key Transparency Reforms to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Proceedings

Grassley Calls for Clean FISA Extension after Securing Key Transparency Reforms to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Proceedings

DOJ lifts Biden-era restrictions in response to Grassley oversight

WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is backing a clean, 18-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) following the Department of Justice's (DOJ) commitment to revise its congressional attendance procedures for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) proceedings. In Grassley's view, DOJ's move to amend its procedures fully resolves the concerns Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) raised in November.

"I applaud DOJ for lifting its restrictions on congressional oversight of FISC and FISCR proceedings. With Congress's access fully restored, the Trump administration has faithfully implemented the reforms Congress called for in its last FISA reauthorization and proven its commitment to transparency and the protection of civil liberties," Grassley said. "Section 702 is one of our nation's most valuable national security tools. Especially given the current threat environment, it's imperative Congress doesn't allow this critical authority to lapse. We must ensure American lives aren't put at risk by a potential Section 702 expiration on April 20. The best path forward is for the House to pass a clean, 18-month FISA extension."

The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), signed into law in April 2024, required DOJ to allow select members of Congress and designated staff to attend and conduct oversight of the FISC or any FISCR proceeding. However, in November 2024, the Biden DOJ implemented a policy that directly conflicted with RISAA, requiring members of Congress and their staff to agree to a series of arbitrary procedures limiting congressional attendance, documentation and oversight of FISC and FISCR proceedings.

The Trump DOJ has agreed to undo this Biden-era policy and implement the following reforms:

• Eliminate provisions that purported to allow DOJ to exclude members or staff from certain proceedings.
• Remove the language purporting to bar members of Congress from requesting information or documentation from participants of FISC proceedings.
• Remove the language purporting to bar members or staff from sharing information with other appropriately cleared individuals with a need to know.
• Add language requiring DOJ to "make every effort" to support the development of overflow space if the physical courtroom is full.
• Remove language barring staff from attending when their member attends.
• Remove language prohibiting note taking.
• Add language ensuring that the procedures do not diminish any right of Congress to receive protected whistleblower disclosures.

Background:

FISA Section 702 authorizes the United States to collect foreign intelligence information from the electronic communications of foreign nationals outside the United States, including terrorists, spies, weapons proliferators and drug traffickers. Americans' electronic communications cannot be targeted under Section 702.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board recently issued a staff report on FISA's Section 702 program, which concluded Section 702 remains one of the United States' most valuable tools for foreign intelligence collection. According to the report, Section 702 "has more privacy and civil liberties protections and close oversight than any other comparable program in U.S. history" and Congress's April 2024 RISAA reforms are having a positive effect on Americans' privacy and civil liberties.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency, Section 702 delivers unique intelligence and contributes to nearly every operation to protect the United States from foreign threats and attacks. Recently, Section 702 has enabled the United States government to:

• Prevent a mass casualty terror attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, Austria.
• Provide U.S. law enforcement with real time information that enabled the seizure of a shipment of chemicals from China intended to produce millions of fentanyl pills.
• Provide actionable intelligence to key partners in support of their raid on the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
• Provide U.S. law enforcement with information used to warn intended American victims of North Korean ransomware attacks.
• Support a key partner's raid of a fentanyl production facility in Mexico, resulting in the seizure of more than one metric ton of fentanyl pills.
• Alert the Department of Defense to the threat of ISIS attack plotters targeting U.S. soldiers in Syria.

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