By Steve Neavling
FBI Director Christopher Wray urged a Senate committee on Tuesday to reauthorize one of the bureau’s most controversial surveillance tools, invoking the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and saying the spy program is “indispensable to our efforts to combat threats posed by foreign adversaries.”
The program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), is set to expire at the end of the year.
In opening remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Wray said the “expiration of our 702 authorities would be devastating to the FBI’s ability to protect Americans” from foreign threats.
“When an overseas cybercriminal breaches a transportation hub, a public utility, or even a children’s hospital, 702 is often the tool we use to find victims and get them what they need to get their systems back up and running,” Wray said. “And, just as important, it helps us identify the next target so they can defend themselves against an attack.”
Without the surveillance tool, Wray warned, the U.S. would have a difficult time handling threats from Iran and China.
“Stripping the FBI of its 702 authorities would be a form of unilateral disarmament,” Wray said.
Republicans and Democrats have expressed concerns that Section 702 would be used to gather information on Americans. Lawmakers are considering one bill that would require a warrant to review communications from Americans through Section 702.
Earlier this year, the three-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Board, an independent agency within the executive branch, said the bureau and other government agencies should receive court approval to review communications of U.S. citizens collected through Section 702.
The White House is trying secure reauthorization of FISA, saying the program is vital to disrupting foreign terror attacks, espionage operations, and cyberattacks.
But opposition is mounting after recent revelations that FBI employees violated their own standards when they used the technology.
Some Republicans in Congress, who have been seeking to punish the bureau for investigating former President Trump, also have pledged to allow the program to expire.
Democrats have long expressed concern that Section 702 could violate Americans’ civil liberties.
The program enables the FBI and other agencies to gather swaths of information and communications from foreigners located abroad without a warrant.
