[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 64 (Monday, April 15, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S2724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

  Madam President, on a related matter, in December, the Director of 
the FBI told our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee that when he 
surveys threats to the homeland, he saw ``blinking lights everywhere.''
  Iran's efforts to kill Americans, compromise our communications and 
data, and collect intelligence on U.S. soil are already well-known. At 
this point, so are the hundreds of known or suspected terrorists 
encountered along our borders in just the current fiscal year.
  At the end of the week, an essential authority America's law 
enforcement and intelligence professionals rely on to monitor and 
mitigate serious threats is actually set to expire. The crucial window 
into the activities of those who wish America harm is set to go dark.
  Of course, a few days ago, the House passed legislation that 
reauthorizes section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 
before it lapses. This historic authority should not be controversial, 
and it should not be conflated with well-known FBI abuses of FISA's 
title I.
  Section 702 provides the authority to collect the communications of 
foreign nationals located overseas when they are reasonably likely to 
yield intelligence value. In practice, this means suspected foreign 
terrorists or foreign intelligence operatives--again, all of them 
located overseas.
  Section 702 both gives us this critical information and places 
guardrails on how this collection is conducted. Importantly, it does 
not authorize the surveillance of Americans for which a warrant is 
already required.
  Have there been problems in the FISA process from malfeasance and 
incompetence? Yes, there have. That is why the bill includes the most 
significant accountability reforms to the FBI in generations.
  The bill includes the most significant reforms to FISA--both section 
702 and title I--in a generation. The bill the Senate will receive this 
week already places firm parameters on the FBI's ability to query the 
database of lawfully collected foreign intelligence for communications 
that might involve U.S. persons, either as a target or an asset of a 
foreign terrorist or intelligence operative.
  It creates further new reporting requirements to increase 
accountability for abuse and misconduct in the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Court system, including direct reporting to Congress on 
adverse personnel actions and noncompliance.
  And it imposes new, serious criminal consequences for unlawful 
disclosures of court proceedings.
  I say all of this as context for any demands that the Senate place 
further limits on the use of FISA critical authorities.
  Let me be clear: The data collected under section 702 is collected 
lawfully. It is entirely reasonable under the Constitution. Any 
incidental collection of communications by or about U.S. persons is 
also reasonable.
  Every court that has looked at that question has said so, and they 
are right. Misguided efforts to require a criminal law warrant to sort 
and organize those data on U.S. persons would end--end--the ability of 
the FBI to keep Americans safe. Frankly, they would forget the lessons 
of 9/11.
  So I will oppose any such efforts and urge my colleagues to do the 
same. We have until Friday to avoid a dangerous lapse in a critical 
tool for identifying and stopping espionage and terrorism against the 
United States. If any of our colleagues believes that now is an 
appropriate moment to make this mission even more difficult, I would be 
very interested to hear that rationale.
  America is facing the most dangerous combination of national security 
challenges since the end of the Cold War. I will not be a party to any 
effort to make it harder to meet these challenges, and the Senate will 
not allow vital security authorities to go dark.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.