FBI officials used a controversial surveillance program to search for information “using only the name of a U.S. congressman,” drawing a rebuke from the Republican lawmaker who was targeted.
“I have had the opportunity to review the classified summary of this violation and it is my opinion that the member of Congress that was wrongfully queried multiple times solely by his name was in fact me,” said Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee.
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LaHood confronted FBI Director Christopher Wray about the incident, which was described in a federal assessment of the intelligence community’s compliance with the rules that govern the surveillance program, during a hearing on intelligence community assessments of global threats. The incident underscores the doubts about the program, known as Section 702, after the provision of federal law that provides the authority for bulk collection of electronic communications data for counterintelligence officials as a database to search for foreign intelligence targets.
“The report’s characterization of this FBI analyst’s action as a mere misunderstanding of querying procedures is indicative of the culture that the FBI has come to expect and even tolerate,” LaHood said. “I want to make clear the FBI’s inappropriate querying of a duly-elected member of Congress is egregious, and ... is viewed as a threat to the separation of powers.”
The Section 702 program authorizes the bulk collection of electronic communications data for intelligence officials to use as a database to search for foreign targets. Named for the provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that authorized the surveillance, this program has emerged as one of the most controversial U.S. intelligence operations revealed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who fled to Russia after giving WikiLeaks a vast trove of classified documents related to U.S. intelligence programs, many of which had nothing to do with American privacy.
Wray maintained that “the conduct at issue predate[s]” a series of policy changes he has promulgated to mitigate the misuse of the surveillance tools.
“We have now seen a 93% decrease, year over year ... in the number of U.S. person queries made by the FBI,” Wray told LaHood. “So, it's a dramatic increase in the judiciousness with which our people are running their queries.”
The program will expire at the end of the year unless Congress passes new legislation to extend its shelf life. “From where I sit today, I believe that a clean legislative reauthorization of 702 is a non-starter,” LaHood said. “You must first acknowledge that a problem exists before we can formulate meaningful reforms to build back trust and confidence in the FISA process.”
House Intelligence Committee leaders seem inclined to use the controversy to ease the passage of a modified version of the program. LaHood has drawn the assignment of leading a “working group on FISA reforms” that could influence negotiations about the extension of the program.
"This careless abuse of this critical tool by the FBI is unfortunate,” he said. “Ironically, I think it gives me a good opportunity and a unique perspective on what's wrong with the FBI.”
Wray adopted a collegial outlook on the coming debates. “Certainly, anytime we have anybody who has a trust issue with us, we want to try to address it,” he said. “We clearly have work to do, and we’re eager to do it with this committee, to show that we can be worthy stewards of this important authorities.”
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LaHood made clear that intelligence officials would find an ally in him, despite the targeting of his name in previous searches.
“The bottom line is, 702 deserves to be reauthorized because it's an invaluable tool to our efforts to counter the threats of our adversaries,” he said. “But the FISA working group must and will pursue reforms and safeguards through this reauthorization process.”