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WASHINGTON 鈥� The American Civil Liberties Union is urging Congress to reconsider including a of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in the 鈥渕ust-pass鈥� National Defense Authorization Act. The FBI has used Section 702, which is supposed to be limited to non-U.S. citizens located outside the United States, to gain warrantless access to the communications of tens of thousands of , 19,000 to a congressional campaign, , and even .

The ACLU, along with 30 other civil society organizations from across the political spectrum, recently sent to congressional leadership urging them to oppose any attempt to include this authority in the NDAA or any other 鈥渕ust-pass鈥� legislation. As noted in the letter, a temporary extension of Section 702 is completely unnecessary as the government is currently conducting such surveillance under a one-year FISA court certification that expires on April 2024 and which would remain valid even if Section 702 were to expire.

The following is a statement from Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU:

鈥淭o use the NDAA to reauthorize a mass spying program that has been so flagrantly abused without going through the full legislative process and robust debate betrays the public鈥檚 trust. If congressional leadership includes an extension that allows Section 702 to continue to operate beyond April 2024 鈥� and which does not include fundamental reforms 鈥� the American Civil Liberties Union will have no choice but to oppose the NDAA and score the vote. Members must reverse course before it鈥檚 too late.鈥�