Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on a separate note, section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is set to expire on Friday. This powerful, necessary tool allows for warrantless surveillance of private phone calls, text messages, and emails of hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals outside the United States. There is no authority in this law for direct surveillance on American citizens, but Americans are being swept up in the efforts under 702 and have been for years.

Section 702 can yield valuable foreign intelligence and even prevent terrorist attacks. It is valuable, and I don't question that it should continue. But it can and has been abused in the effort to spy on foreigners. Americans have become the victims.

Those who oppose reforming FISA argue there is no time to address these abuses because our national security will be harmed if section 702 is allowed to expire even for a day. That is not true. Existing law allows section 702 collection to continue under an order from the FISA Court for another year even without congressional reauthorization.

Congress can and must take the time to get this right. We must finally fix the fundamental and indefensible flaw at the heart of FISA: warrantless surveillance of American citizens.

We should ask ourselves two questions:

Who is being entrusted with this immense power? President Trump would like this authority to be overseen by unqualified MAGA loyalists. President Trump has named Bill Pulte Acting Director of National Intelligence. Bill Pulte is in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing programs of the Federal Government. He has no--underline ``no''--background in intelligence.

The Republican Senate leader came to the floor here and said: Don't worry about it; he is just temporary.

Temporarily in charge of the intelligence operations of 17 or 18 Agencies? Temporary approval of their actions by a man who has no background in intelligence? What are we saying to the men and women who have devoted their lives in defense of America to intelligence gathering? Some have risked their lives. Some have given their lives in the process.

To take Mr. Pulte, who runs the housing programs, and put him in charge makes no sense whatsoever--temporary or permanent.

Let me add as well that Mr. Pulte isn't just a housing expert; he tends to be an expert as well on revenge politics under MAGA. He has followed the President's admonition to go after the President's enemies and done it over and over again. Now we are going to put him in charge of all the intelligence Agencies of the United States? It makes no sense.

Since being confirmed to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mr. Pulte has abused his position to push for criminal referrals against President Trump's perceived enemies, from New York attorney general Letitia James to Fed Governor Lisa Cook.

If Mr. Pulte becomes the Acting Director of National Intelligence, he will have access to thousands of Americans' private texts, phone calls, and emails. This housing expert is going to be playing with ammunition provided by the intelligence Agencies to keep Americans safe. Now it is going to be used for political purposes if we are not careful.

Then there is the Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel--a special case for sure. His Agency is one of the biggest users of information acquired through section 702.

The New York Times this morning had a lengthy article on the lengths Patel has gone to--with the FBI--to get even with the President's critics. In addition to overseeing the purge of nonpartisan career agents at the Bureau itself, Mr. Patel has also gutted internal FBI oversight of FISA by eliminating the Office in charge of auditing complaints with section 702 regulations.

Another official with an instrumental role in section 702 surveillance is Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Mr. Blanche was President Trump's personal defense attorney, and he has warped the Department of Justice into a personal sword and shield for President Trump.

The inability of Pulte, Patel, and Blanche to serve the American people rather than the personal and political interests of President Trump highlights why Congress must reform section 702.

The second question Congress must ask is whether the section 702 authorities safeguard the privacy of Americans under any administration, not just the current one.

Our Nation's Founders understood the government can't be trusted to police itself against the overreach into citizens' private lives. That is why the Constitution sets up a system of checks and balances.

One of the most important checks is the Fourth Amendment, which requires the government to get a warrant from a judge before searching Americans' homes or private communications. Section 702 should not be a backdoor around this congressional limitation. That is why Senator Lee, a Republican from Utah, and I have a bipartisan proposal to require the government to obtain a judicial warrant before searching Americans' communications collected under section 702.

Our legislation would also close the so-called data broker loophole, which allows the government to purchase Americans' personal information from third-party data brokers--data that would require a warrant if sought any other way.

I urge my colleagues to ask if the current administration can be entrusted with the power of section 702 and whether every future administration can be trusted without adequate safeguards. It is clear that the answer to both questions is no.

Congress must enact commonsense guardrails that uphold the Constitution and protect the American people from abuse by this administration or any future administration.

The Republican leader came to the floor earlier today to talk about the security of the United States. I agree with him. It is a paramount task. But also adherence to our Constitution, which each and every one of us swore to uphold and defend, is part of that process.

The notion that we could put a temporary person in charge of 17 or 18 intelligence Agencies across the globe, dedicated to keeping us safe 24/7, because he is loyal to the President's politics ain't enough. You ought to be qualified before you take on a job of that magnitude. Mr. Pulte is not qualified.

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