1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

Oppose any clean extension or long-term reauthorization of FISA Section 702 unless it includes real reforms to protect Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights. Section 702 was created to target foreign persons located outside the United States. That foreign-intelligence purpose matters, and Congress can preserve it. But what has not been resolved is what happens when Americans’ communications are swept into those databases and then searched later by the FBI or other agencies. If the government wants to deliberately search for an American’s private communications, it should get a warrant or a FISA court order, absent a true emergency, the basic protection Americans are entitled to before the government searches our private lives. Congress should also close the data broker loophole. If the government would need a warrant to obtain sensitive information directly, it should not be allowed to buy that same information from a private company. Oversight reports and compliance improvements do not eliminate the need for reform. We should not have to rely on agency self-policing when the issue is access to their private communications. Nor should crises abroad become an excuse for warrantless searches at home. Please vote no on any clean extension or reauthorization that fails to include meaningful reforms. Congress should require a warrant or FISA court order for U.S. person queries and close the data broker loophole. Protect our country and protect our Constitution!