FISA Court Shows the FBI Illegally Searched Data on a Senator, a State Senator, and a Judge

A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinion has disclosed (yet another!) significant breach of FBI policy involving the surveillance of US citizens, including a US Senator, a state Senator, and a state judge. The violations occurred during the implementation of FISA Section 702, which is designed to permit the targeted surveillance of non-US citizens overseas. We obtained a copy of the opinion for you here. The opinion was made public by the Director of National Intelligence and discloses queries carried out in June and October 2022 under the purview of Section 702. In contradiction to established procedures, these queries failed to meet the legally prescribed standard and contravened FBI policy that requires the pre-approval of “sensitive query terms” by the Deputy Director. Watch our video report on the FBI’s illegal searches here. The transgressions were exposed during inquiries conducted using identifiers such as the last names of the involved US Senator and state Senator and the social security number of the state judge. While the specific individuals remain unidentified, these revelations have underscored the recurrent issue of Section 702 misuse. Despite assurances from the FBI that these searches were supposedly motivated by foreign threats, the agency acknowledged that they fell short of being “reasonably tailored to the query standard” and lacked the required pre-approvals. In response to the court’s opinion, FBI Director Christopher Wray reaffirmed the importance of Section 702 in combating foreign adversaries and pledged continued commitment to maintaining a balance between national security and civil liberties. Wray outlined…FISA Court Shows the FBI Illegally Searched Data on a Senator, a State Senator, and a Judge