Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 1318, the Foreign Intelligence Accountability Act, and I thank Chairman Crawford for his leadership and steadfast support for reauthorization of FISA 702.

During the last reauthorization in 2024, I and many other Members led the committee's task force on FISA reforms, and I think it is important to clarify what FISA 702 is and what it isn't.

FISA 702 cannot be used to target U.S. persons, period. Under current Federal law, it is illegal to target U.S. persons under this authority. Section 702 only allows for the collection on foreigners located overseas and who are reasonably believed to possess certain types of foreign intelligence information.

Throughout our reform process in 2024, we worked with our Judiciary Committee colleagues and spent over a year working to address unacceptable section 702 abuses by the FBI with the goal of preserving constitutional liberties afforded to all U.S. persons, ensuring events like Crossfire Hurricane never happen again, and holding the FBI accountable.

The last reauthorization, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, RISAA, targeted 56 reforms and meaningful changes to the FBI. It is the largest reform to the FBI in a generation. The Department of Justice Inspector General's Office has confirmed today that the FBI has implemented all 56 of these requirements.

These requirements over the last 2 years have worked, by everybody's account, holding the FBI accountable; increasing criminal penalties on agents and analysts, making the FBI more compliant with what they have to do; reforming the FISC, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; and a number of other reforms that are working.

I strongly believe the unintended consequences of letting FISA 702 expire would result in risking national security and making the United States less safe for American families.

If we just look over the last year here, the strategic strike in Venezuela, the Israeli hostages who were recovered from the tunnels in Hamas, taking out Iran's nuclear capabilities and the success we have had there, the taking out of drug cartel bosses in Mexico, going back to the first administration and what happened with Soleimani and al- Baghdadi, and many other instances that we can't talk about here, all of it derived from FISA 702.

Prior to coming to Congress, I spent time as a Federal prosecutor and the chief terrorism prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice. I know firsthand how FISA can be used for the proper prosecution of terrorists and non-U.S. citizens who want to harm America. Putting people in jail who want to hurt America would not happen but for FISA and section 702.

Today, FISA 702 delivers unique foreign intelligence that allows the U.S. Government to better protect U.S. military forces abroad, disrupt malicious hackers targeting U.S. infrastructure like emergency medical services and transportation services, and thwart potential efforts by terrorist groups that may be plotting attacks on our homeland.

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that FISA is an indispensable national security tool. We ought to support this bill to protect America and our citizens, and I urge its adoption.

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