Usa Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020.

This bill strikes just the right balance between protecting our national security and strengthening civil liberties. It preserves critical tools used by authorities to investigate international terrorism and foreign intelligence matters, but also makes significant reforms to enhance privacy and transparency.

I would like to quickly highlight some of the important privacy protections included in the bill.

For example, the FBI may no longer be able to keep business records collected under FISA indefinitely. Those records would have to be destroyed after 5 years, except in very narrow circumstances.

The government will also have to provide notice to individuals whose business records are used in a criminal case or other proceeding unless the proceeding's adjudicator finds that disclosure would harm national security. Individuals who receive notice would then be able to challenge the legality of the government's collection, a right that should be maintained when intrusive national security authorities are used to gather evidence.

In addition to these privacy enhancements, the bill also requires greater transparency about how the government uses FISA. The bill imposes a 180-day clock on declassification of significant opinions issued by the FISA court and requires the government to look further in its historical records than it has done before.

Moreover, the bill enhances transparency in the intelligence community's annual public reports so we get a better sense of when the government conducts U.S. person queries into FISA data.

These are but some examples of the important transparency and private reforms contained in this bill. These reforms are all accomplished without negatively impacting our national security.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for it.

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