[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9551-9552]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        UNAUTHORIZED SPYING ON AMERICANS AND 702 REAUTHORIZATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.

[[Page 9552]]


  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, once again, Americans' privacy is 
under attack, this time by the spying eyes of our own U.S. Government. 
And people across the U.S. are wondering what is this section 702 
issue.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, section 702 is a provision of the Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Act. We call it FISA. It permits government 
to monitor the communications of suspected foreign agents, including 
terrorists, and to find out, in that communication, if that foreign 
agent wants to hurt us.
  However, sometimes these individuals under surveillance communicate 
with American citizens, and this surveillance allows the conversations 
of ordinary citizens to be recorded, and that includes text messages, 
emails, and the conversation itself.
  But what many Americans don't realize is these secret communications 
are not destroyed by the intelligence agencies. They are kept and kept 
forever. In fact, the government stores this data, and often goes back 
into that data and searches it, without a warrant, in violation of the 
Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, for information on American 
citizens.
  What we do with the foreign agents, hey, it is okay. But government 
then takes that information they have seized on Americans and then goes 
back and looks through it without a real warrant. That includes the 
IRS, the FBI. And they get the NSA to give those conversations on 
Americans, unrelated to the conversation with the terrorist, and they 
use that information to maybe prosecute them for some unrelated offense 
years later. Usually, this subsequent search is for reasons wholly 
unrelated to the original collection.
  Essentially, the government uses this procedure to spy on Americans 
who may have done no wrong, and the search is not based on probable 
cause, not based on a real warrant from a real judge.
  The National Security Agency is designed to keep a close watch on 
terrorists and foreign agents, not Americans. NSA surveillance is 
supposed to keep us safe from those foreign agents who wish to do us 
harm.
  But before the Federal Government decides to invade the privacy of 
Americans, they should obtain a real warrant. Under current law, FISA 
courts, those are secret courts that operate in secret and issue secret 
warrants--I have got a whole issue problem with secret courts in this 
country anyway, based upon the history of the Star Chamber in England.
  However, those secret courts allow government to search and collect 
that data, and the FISA courts almost always grant the requested 
warrant on the foreign agent.
  Our Founders feared that a government powerful enough to commit 
unreasonable searches and seizures on Americans should be closely 
watched. That is why they crafted the Fourth Amendment, to protect our 
right to privacy. As a former judge, I heard issues on the Fourth 
Amendment every day. And let me read it again, especially for those 
folks in NSA.
  ``The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, effects''--that would be conversations--``against unreasonable 
searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall 
issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and 
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or 
things to be seized.''
  That applies to the NSA. If they can get a warrant from a real judge 
based on probable cause to search that data on Americans, go for it. 
But they can't. They just seize the information and peruse it later and 
get information on Americans and then prosecute them.
  This kind of reverse targeting on Americans is not what Congress 
intended under 702 of the FISA authorization bill. Technology may 
change, but our Constitution never changes, and spying on Americans 
just has to stop.
  Americans should not be forced to sacrifice liberty and 
constitutional rights for security, especially for overreaching Federal 
bureaucrats.
  Regardless of the result surrounding the alleged incidental capture 
of campaign officials' conversations, the American public must realize 
the implications of this little provision called 702. Reverse targeting 
of Americans without a search warrant based on the Fourth Amendment has 
got to stop. Can't do it.
  But right now Congress has the ability to reform overreaching law as 
part of the larger FISA reauthorization process that will take place 
this year.
  Opponents of 702, the concept that you can't spy on Americans, are 
wishing for what they call a pure reauthorization of FISA, without any 
new safeguards. They argue that these mass invasions of privacy will 
make us safer.
  Those who preach we must sacrifice the Constitution on the altar of 
false security are wrong. We must never abdicate our rights because the 
national spy agency, NSA, demands it.
  In fact, even a FISA court judge found that NSA analysts had been 
collecting searches that violate the procedures under FISA ``with much 
greater frequency than had previously been disclosed to the court''. 
The FISA court called this a very serious Fourth Amendment issue.
  Well, no kidding. It is a violation of current law, but the NSA 
violates current law and spies on Americans.
  After these findings were released and NSA was caught, the NSA 
pledged to stop the warrantless surveillance of Americans. But, Mr. 
Speaker, their promise is useless.
  FISA and 702 must be fixed by inserting the specific language that 
prohibits reverse targeting on Americans without a valid search 
warrant. If government wants information on Americans, get a warrant.
  Without clear and specific language, our intelligence agencies will 
continue these unconstitutional searches, even if they promise to end 
their procedure.
  But we can't trust the NSA not to spy on Americans, so Congress needs 
to have an open debate on the spying of Americans and not reauthorize 
the FISA procedure unless we make sure that the American right of 
privacy is protected. Congressional action must be taken on this issue.
  It is time to end spying on Americans. If you want to spy on an 
American, get a real warrant from the Fourth Amendment. Continue that 
surveillance of foreign nationals. That is a different issue. But you 
can't do both. You must protect the American right of privacy.
  Congress has that obligation because that is our job to enforce the 
Fourth Amendment right of privacy.
  And that is just the way it is.

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