Congressman Blake Moore's Statement on His Vote in Support of the Reforming Security and Intelligence Act
WASHINGTON -- Congressman Blake Moore issued the following statement on his vote in support of the Reforming Security and Intelligence Act:
"Today I voted in favor of the Reforming Security and Intelligence Act (RISA) which contains a vital set of 56 long-overdue reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). I am proud of my colleagues on the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees for hammering out a strong compromise that will protect U.S. national security, prevent the FBI from abusing the program for political purposes, and protect our constitutional rights.
I also voted against the Biggs-Jayapal-Nadler amendment to the bill that would establish an unprecedented super warrant requirement for lawfully collected data on foreign nationals under Section 702 of FISA. Congress wrote Section 702 in 2008 to enable U.S. law enforcement to analyze foreign intelligence collection even if the acquisition occurred within the United States (i.e., a terrorist in Iran using a social media server based in Silicon Valley or a text message from a foreign spy network to a U.S. national at home). Ensuring that we retain this capability while also protecting U.S. citizens is an utmost priority of mine. Conservative leaders in the national security space agree: Devin Nunes, Former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee; Robert O'Brien, President Trump's National Security Advisor; and Mike Pompeo, President Trump's Secretary of State, signed a letter urging the reauthorization of Section 702 back in December.
For years, federal courts have ruled that Section 702 collections do not violate the Fourth Amendment or restrict American constitutional rights because they specifically target foreign nationals abroad who are not protected by the U.S. Constitution to begin with. The U.S. government already needs a warrant and probable cause to collect intelligence and investigate a U.S. person's data, and if Section 702 reveals that a foreign terrorist network is communicating with a U.S. citizen by phone and they want to investigate further, a warrant is required for that too.
But requiring the FISA court system to authorize a warrant on the front end before law enforcement can use any foreign information collected under Section 702 would be logistically impossible and kneecap our counterterrorism and counternarcotics efforts. FISA court orders would jump from 2,000-3,000 per year to hundreds of thousands per year, and Congress would have to approve an unprecedented number of new intelligence judges at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to the American taxpayer. Time is of the essence in these counterterrorism scenarios, and this amendment would be a ticking time bomb of delays and bureaucracy.
Consequentially, the amendment would make our intelligence community powerless to address the crisis at our southern border. The U.S. needs the ability to quickly target drug trafficking groups and fentanyl networks in China and Southeast Asia who work hand in hand with the Mexican drug cartels to wreak havoc in our communities. This bill includes timely reforms that enable intelligence experts to go after narcotics groups at the source, rather than waiting until it is too late.
The rest of the bill has 56 overdue reforms to Title I of FISA to ensure what happened to the Trump campaign in 2016, in which the FBI improperly manipulated FISA applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts (FISC) using faulty opposition research, will never happen again. It increases criminal penalties for abusing FISA or leaking FISA applications for political purposes and prevents the FBI from using opposition research to get a FISA order. It mandates an audit for every time a U.S. person gets included in a Title I query by the FBI. The bill also includes major reforms to the FISC that protect U.S. persons, such as requiring FISC to appoint one or more amicus curiae in the annual Section 702 judicial review process and requiring FISC judges to designate an attorney to scrutinize an application for a probable cause order in the event a U.S. person is involved. And it slashes the total amount of FBI personnel allowed to make Section 702 approvals by over 90%, including a full ban on political appointees.
Reforming and reauthorizing FISA is critical to stopping the multitude of threats against the United States originating overseas. Hacking networks, spy services, terrorist groups, and drug traffickers all require an agile response system. The modern strategic threats coming from China, Russia, and Iran do as well. My vote was taken in consideration of these challenges as well as with a strong desire to ensure it protects American liberties. This bill does both."
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