House committee to markup bill revising intelligence gathering under FISA

A provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) used by the intelligence community to gather intelligence on terrorists located outside the United States would be amended under a bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017, H.R. 4478, would reauthorize Section 702 of the law for four years. It would also restrict the use of Section 702 to criminally prosecute U.S. citizens, require specific procedures for querying information collection and annual reviews, and establish new procedures for unmasking the identity of Americans appearing in intelligence reports.

U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the rest of the committee plan to markup the bill on Friday.

“It’s a constant challenge to strike the right balance between security and privacy — this balance must be regularly re-evaluated in response to technological innovations and the evolution of threats to U.S. forces and Americans at home and abroad,” Nunes said. “This bill updates the rules on Section 702 and other collection by strengthening privacy protections and transparency without hindering the ability of our intelligence professionals to monitor terror suspects, analyze collected data, and keep us safe.”

The bill would also establish new requirements to report to Congress and the intelligence community on how FISA authorities are being used, give the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board more authority, and codify the civil liberties of officers at the National Security Administration, CIA, and FBI.