Washington, DC: The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA), representing over 14,000 FBI Special Agents nationwide, is urging Congress to reauthorize four provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) — roving wiretaps, business records, lone wolves, and Call Detail Records (CDR) — that provide critical tools to Agents in sensitive counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and counterproliferation investigations. The provisions are set to expire on March 15, 2020 unless reauthorized by Congress.
In a February 4 letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Ranking Member Doug Collins, FBIAA President Brian O’Hare emphasized that the four FISA tools play an essential role in protecting the United States from constantly evolving threats. O’Hare wrote that, given the nature of the threats, “it would be dangerous and irresponsible for Congress to allow the four FISA provisions in question to expire.”
O’Hare stressed that while Congress conducts oversight and debates possible reforms to the FISA process, “it is important that it avoid inaction that would undermine our safety…Criminals and terrorists will not wait for the reform debate to finish before acting on their plans to harm our country and people.”
O’Hare wrote that FBI Special Agents in every field office across the country “responsibly use tools provided by FISA in sensitive counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and counterproliferation investigations to help protect our country.” The letter included a statement by a Special Agent who helps conduct counterterrorism investigations:
“Sophisticated techniques like roving wiretaps and the ability to access business records are instrumental to how I do my work. We use them to help thwart attacks by foreign terrorist organizations and home-grown violent extremists. I think that our work, supported by these tools, has helped save lives. Our partners in state and local law enforcement depend on the FBI and our techniques as well. I am concerned that losing them would make it harder for us to do our jobs and would make our country less safe.”
O’Hare describes how the four expiring FISA provisions are “reasonable, effective, and an integral of contemporary investigation” and states, “taken together, the case for permanently reauthorizing the four expiring provisions is very strong, and no reasonable argument can be made for allowing these authorities to lapse.”