Co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, erstwhile oboist, mom of seriously cute twins. Opinions are my own.
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Jul 17 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
URGENT: Please call Senator Graham’s office (202-224-5972) *today* and demand that Section 1202 of the intelligence authorization bill, which will rein in a truly terrifying surveillance authority, be KEPT IN the bill. 1/17
When Congress reauthorized Section 702 in April, it included what @RonWyden called “one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.” I wrote about that expansion here: 2/17 thehill.com/opinion/techno…
Apr 20 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
It’s over (for now). A majority of senators caved to the fearmongering and bush league tactics of the administration and surveillance hawks in Congress, and they sold out Americans’ civil liberties. Section 702 has been reauthorized, not just without any meaningful reforms… 1/10
…but with “one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history,” as @RonWyden aptly described it. It is nothing short of mind-boggling that 58 senators voted to keep this Orwellian power in the bill. 2/10
Apr 19 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
THANK YOU to the *thousands* of you who have made calls—WE NEED TO KEEP THEM COMING! Call 202-899-8938 to be connected to your Senators & urge them to vote “NO” on RISAA, which contains a “terrifying” provision (@RonWyden) that will force U.S. businesses to act as NSA spies. 1/6
The administration and intelligence officials will put ENORMOUS pressure on Senators today to just swallow this terrible bill, because otherwise Section 702 will lapse at the end of the day. We need to make sure they’re feeling just as much pressure FROM US. 2/6
Apr 18 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
THERE WILL BE SENATE VOTES ON SECTION 702 TODAY. Please call this number (202-899-8938) ASAP to be connected to your Senators and urge them to vote “NO” on RISAA, which contains a “terrifying” provision (@RonWyden) that will force U.S. businesses to serve as NSA spies. 1/9
For more background on this provision, see my op-ed in the Hill yesterday…2/9 thehill.com/opinion/techno…
Apr 16 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
URGENT: PLEASE KEEP THE CALLS COMING! Call this number (202-899-8938) ASAP to be connected to your Senators and urge them NOT to pass RISAA, which contains a “terrifying” provision (@RonWyden) that will force U.S. businesses to serve as NSA spies. 1/12
For more background on this provision, see my tweet thread from yesterday. The top line is that it would allow the NSA to compel a huge range of U.S. business and individuals to serve as surrogate spies. 2/12
URGENT: Please read thread below. We have just days to convince the Senate NOT to pass a “terrifying” law (@RonWyden) that will force U.S. businesses to serve as NSA spies. CALL YOUR SENATOR NOW using this call tool (click below or call 202-899-8938). 1/25 act.demandprogress.org/call/no-on-sec…
Buried in the Section 702 reauthorization bill (RISAA) passed by the House on Friday is the biggest expansion of domestic surveillance since the Patriot Act. Senator Wyden calls this power “terrifying,” and he’s right. 2/25
I’m sad—and frankly baffled—to report that the House voted today to reward the government’s widespread abuses of Section 702 by massively expanding the government’s powers to conduct warrantless surveillance. 1/14
The amendment to require the gov’t to obtain a warrant to search Section 702 data for Americans’ communications failed by an achingly close vote of 212-212, following some truly shameless misrepresentations about the amendment from @MikeTurnerOH, the White House, & others. 2/14
Apr 12 • 21 tweets • 5 min read
The House will vote on Section 702 TOMORROW MORNING. If you think warrantless surveillance should be reined in rather than massively expanded, PLEASE USE THIS CALL TOOL ASAP (click below or call 202-899-8938) & leave a message if you get VM. 1/21 act.demandprogress.org/call/no-on-sec…
The base bill is the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA). As the @BrennanCenter has explained, this bill would do nothing to prevent abuses of Section 702, and it would actually weaken the FISA Court’s oversight of surveillance. 2/21 brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
Apr 10 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
The House just voted against the rule that would have brought Section 702 legislation to the floor tomorrow. This puts Section 702 itself in jeopardy—something that could easily have been avoided if surveillance hawks were willing to entertain reasonable reforms. 1/17
The purpose of 702 is to collect intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad; that is where its value overwhelmingly lies. But the gov’t uses it to spy on Americans through “backdoor searches,” a practice that undermines the 4th Amendment and has scant national security value. 2/17
Apr 9 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Buried in the Section 702 reauthorization bill that the House will consider this week (RISAA) is a provision that could result in the *permanent* reauthorization of this deeply-flawed authority—without a single reform. 1/11
Here’s how. FISA currently includes a sunset date of April 19 for all of Title VII of FISA. Title VII includes Section 702, but it also includes other provisions (Sections 703, 704, and 705) that contain vital protections for Americans located outside the United States. 2/11
Apr 8 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
.@SpeakerJohnson has caved to the House Intelligence Committee’s bush league tactics and will block votes on a key reform when Section 702 reauthorization goes to the House floor this week. 1/12 politico.com/newsletters/pl…
The base bill that the House will consider—the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA)—contains no meaningful reforms. In fact, the bill would actually weaken the FISA Court’s oversight of surveillance. 2/12 brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
Mar 12 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
If you care about the First Amendment, please stop everything and read this @WIRED article. Tl;dr: House intelligence committee (HPSCI) members are blocking reforms to FISA Section 702 *because they want the FBI to spy on American protesters.* 1/20 wired.com/story/hpsci-us…
A bit of background (skip to tweet 10 if you’re up to speed on 702!): Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance and therefore can only be targeted at foreigners overseas. But it inevitably sweeps in enormous volumes of Americans’ communications. 2/20
Feb 15 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Yesterday, I tweeted about how House intelligence committee leaders (HPSCI) scuttled a floor vote on Section 702 rather than allow members to enact reforms. That’s bad behavior, even by Congress’s standards. It turns out it was worse than I thought. 1/13
In what may seem like unrelated news (bear with me, I will get back to 702!), HPSCI Chairman Mike Turner caused a near-panic this week when he called for a secret session of Congress to share classified information about a “destabilizing foreign military capability”… 2/13
Feb 14 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
Some jaw-dropping news: House intelligence committee (HPSCI) leaders forced Speaker Johnson to CANCEL THE FLOOR VOTE on Section 702 tomorrow, rather than allow members to vote on whether to prohibit warrantless access to Americans’ communications. 1/18
HPSCI leaders have been waging a propaganda campaign all week to try to tank this and other reforms… but it’s not working. They saw the writing on the wall. In HPSCI’s view, if members won’t vote the way HPSCI tells them to on Section 702, they shouldn’t get to vote at all. 2/18
Feb 12 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Reporting from @politico suggests House intelligence committee leaders want at least part of the floor debate on Section 702 to happen IN SECRET. If true, these are bush league tactics and a new low for opponents of surveillance reform. 1/8
Most lawmakers want major reform of Section 702. The Judiciary Committee’s reform bill passed out of committee on a 35-2 vote. Intelligence committee leaders know they can’t win on an even playing field, so they’re trying to use secrecy to avoid reform. 2/8
Dec 14, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I’m sorry to report that lawmakers caved to abject fearmongering by the administration & surveillance hawks in Congress and passed a de facto 16-month extension of Section 702 as part of the NDAA this morning. 1/5
Those of you who called your senators and representatives in the last couple of days—THANK YOU. Your calls did make a difference. The vote was much closer, especially in the Senate, than a lot of observers expected it to be. 2/5
Dec 12, 2023 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
If you believe the government should have to get a warrant to read Americans’ communications, CALL YOUR SENATORS AND TELL THEM “NO SECTION 702 EXTENSION ON THE NDAA WITHOUT A CERTIFICATION CAP.” What does that mean? I’ll explain. 1/15
Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance of foreigners abroad, but it sweeps in huge volumes of Americans’ communications, and the gov’t routinely searches through the data for the express purpose of finding and reviewing Americans’ phone calls, texts, and emails. 2/15
Dec 11, 2023 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
RED ALERT: Buried in the House intelligence committee’s Section 702 “reform” bill, which is schedule for a floor vote as soon as tomorrow, is the biggest expansion of surveillance inside the United States since the Patriot Act. 1/11
Through a seemingly innocuous change to the definition of “electronic service communications provider,” the bill vastly expands the universe of U.S. businesses that can be conscripted to aid the government in conducting surveillance. 2/11
Nov 28, 2023 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
Senate intelligence committee (SSCI) leaders have introduced a bill to reauthorize FISA Section 702 *until 2035.* Although it claims to include “reforms,” the bill would actually do more to expand Section 702 surveillance than rein it in. 1/22 therecord.media/senate-section…
Background (skip the next 3 tweets if you’re up to speed!): Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance, so it can only be targeted at foreigners abroad. But the surveillance inevitably sweeps in vast quantities of Americans’ communications. 2/22
Sep 28, 2023 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board’s long-awaited Section 702 report is out. Top line: the report recommends case-by-case judicial approval before accessing Americans’ communications collected under Section 702. 1/20 documents.pclob.gov/prod/Documents…
The administration has argued that individualized judicial review of U.S. person queries is unworkable and unnecessary. I’m sure officials deluged PCLOB members with classified briefings and documents to try to make their case. 2/20
Jul 21, 2023 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Today, the government released a redacted version of the FISA Court’s April 2023 opinion approving Section 702 surveillance. The opinion provides yet more reasons why Congress should not reauthorize this dangerous authority without sweeping reforms. 1/15 intel.gov/assets/documen…
To recap, 702 allows warrantless surveillance and thus can only be targeted at foreigners abroad. But it inevitably sweeps in enormous volumes of Americans’ communications, which the government then deliberately searches for without obtaining a warrant. 2/15
