During a public hearing today, Rep. Darin LaHood that he was subject to an unlawful search by an FBI analyst who had access to classified intercepts obtained by the US National Security Agency.
Jeramie Scott, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center and director of the nonprofit’s surveillance oversight project, says LaHood’s admission served as further confirmation that “the FBI’s backdoor searches are ripe for abuse.” He adds that Congress should outlaw the practice and implement comprehensive reforms to “rein in the surveillance state and protect Americans’ privacy and civil liberties.
The FBI is already working with a diminished set of tools, having been stripped during the Trump years of multiple powers once derived from the 9/11-era Patriot Act. These include the ability to obtain “roving” wiretaps that target people instead of particular devices and the power to target Americans suspected of international terrorism ties without formally linking them to a specific organization, known as the Lone Wolf amendment.
None of this bodes well for the FBI, the further diminishment of which would not only please civil liberties advocates vying for privacy reform but also Republicans eager to claim a political victory over the so-called deep state.
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