THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2018
Statement from the Press Secretary
The Administration strongly opposes the “USA Rights” amendment to the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act, which the House will consider tomorrow. This amendment would re-establish the walls between intelligence and law enforcement that our country knocked down following the attacks of 9/11 in order to increase information sharing and improve our national security. The Administration urges the House to reject this amendment and preserve the useful role FISA’s Section 702 authority plays in protecting American lives.
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FISA Section 702 permits the government to collect without a warrant from American firms, like Google and AT&T, the emails and other communications of foreigners abroad — even when they are talking to Americans.
The amendment would ban the practice whereby officials at the N.S.A., the F.B.I. and other security agencies, without a warrant, search for and read private messages of Americans that the government incidentally swept up under the 702 program. Instead, except in emergencies, officials would need to obtain a court order to query the repository for an American’s information.
The amendment is chiefly sponsored by Representative Justin Amash, Republican of Michigan, and Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California.
Senator Rand Paul, in the Senate, supports surveillance protections.
We've got a great coalition working to restore our privacy rights. My hope is that the Amash amendment will pass and that it will come to the Senate a chance there. pic.twitter.com/Rk7xgB8WHY
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 10, 2018
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