In Senate Floor Speech, Durbin Calls For Opposition To FISA Section 702 Reauthorization Without Serious Reforms

In Senate Floor Speech, Durbin Calls For Opposition To FISA Section 702 Reauthorization Without Serious Reforms

Durbin: "Any member of Congress who wants to ensure there are check on this out-of-control Administration should not vote to reauthorize this authority without meaningful guardrails."

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on his Senate colleagues to support serious reforms to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire on June 12 after Congress passed an extension for the legislation in April. Section 702 grew out of a secret warrantless surveillance program conducted by the Bush Administration after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. When this illegal spying program was exposed, Congress enacted Section 702 as a temporary measure.

Durbin began his remarks by laying out how the federal government uses this authority for warrantless spying on Americans.

"Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the government collects communications of foreigners overseas without a warrant from any court. But, in the process, the government, unfortunately, collects millions of communications of innocent Americans-people they are not authorized to surveil. Once collected, the government searches these communications without a warrant from any court…Every American needs to understand that this law allows the government to listen to your phone calls and read your private messages that have been collected under Section 702. The government does all of that without any court approval," Durbin began. "This is a fundamental flaw that I have worked to change for a long time."

Durbin stressed that the Fourth Amendment protects Americans from warrantless searches, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have been bypassing this constitutional right for years. The FBI alone conducted more than 7,000 warrantless searches on Americans last year.

"These abuses, according to the FISA Court, have been 'persistent and widespread.' The government itself has reported hundreds of thousands of unlawful searches using this authority... As further detailed in the Brennan Center's report, the government has used Section 702 to spy unlawfully on many people. Who have they spied on? Members of Congress, congressional staff, judges, journalists, protesters, political donors, even women on dating apps," Durbin said.

"Past attempts at reform have not solved the problem…As the Brennan Center explained, 'the current system of Section 702 oversight relies almost entirely on the executive branch self-policing to prevent, detect, and report abuses.' In other words, the fox is watching the chicken coop. That's a flawed system under any Administration. Under this Administration, it is especially alarming," Durbin continued.

Durbin then raised alarms about how the Trump Administration could further weaponize Section 702 against innocent Americans and political enemies.

"The question before Congress is whether we will grant broad warrantless surveillance authority to President Trump and MAGA loyalists like FBI Director Kash Patel and the new acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte for the rest of this Administration…The current Administration has repeatedly targeted political opponents…attacked independent institutions like the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board…and fired career law-enforcement officials and public servants at the FBI and Department of Justice. They cleaned shop. These people would have been responsible for ensuring that a program like Section 702 be lawful and nonpartisan," Durbin said.

"In the hands of a government that has treated the Constitution as an afterthought, Congress should not place blind trust in the hands of an Administration which can clearly use the surveillance power for political purposes," Durbin said.

"What happens when the Administration uses Section 702 to spy on Americans, perhaps those who protested the murder of two innocent people in Minneapolis during the ICE raids? They used to spy on Black Lives Matter protestors. Is it hard to imagine they would extend that to those who question the masked ICE agents' activity? What happens if journalists have their texts or phone calls snooped on because they dare to report the controversial news about this Administration's misconduct? Any member of Congress who wants to ensure there are checks on this out-of-control Administration should not vote to reauthorize authority of Section 702 without meaningful guardrails," Durbin continued.

Durbin then spoke about his bipartisan legislation with U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), the Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act, which would reauthorize Section 702 with pragmatic safeguards to protect the privacy and civil liberties with Americans. Durbin and Lee penned a New York Times op-ed on the SAFE Act, noting that the legislation would ensure Americans retain their rights guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment.

"Congress does not need to choose between protecting national security and preserving Americans' constitutional rights. We can do both… Our bill [the SAFE Act] would require the government to obtain a judicial warrant before accessing the contents of Americans' texts, emails, phone calls, and other private communications with exceptions for emergencies and other special circumstances. That's exactly what we believe the Constitution requires of us because the Founders rightly understood that no Administration should be given a blank check to invade a citizen's privacy without the oversight of an independent judge," Durbin said.

Durbin concluded his remarks by calling on his colleagues to finally enact the Section 702 reforms that would protect Americans' privacy and civil liberties.

"The time to finally protect Americans from warrantless surveilling under Section 702 is now. Not later. Not next time. Now-with this Congress. We've heard these false promises too many times before, and with power in the hands of this President, we just can't afford to wait any longer," Durbin said.

"I oppose the reauthorization of warrantless surveillance powers under FISA Section 702 without guardrails to better protect the privacy of Americans. I urge all of my colleagues to do the same," Durbin concluded his speech.

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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