fisa FISA FISC foia Section 702 surveillance
EPIC, Coalition Call for End to Warrantless Section 702 Searches of Americans' Data
EPIC and a coalition of over 50 organizations called on lawmakers to require federal agencies to obtain a probable cause warrant before searching foreign intelligence databases for information about U.S. citizens and residents. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows agencies - without a warrant and in a broad range of circumstances - to search for information about Americans among communications collected for foreign intelligence purposes. In a letter to leaders of the House Judiciary Committee, the groups explained that this practice "undermine[s] constitutional protections create an unacceptable loophole to access Americans' communications in criminal and foreign intelligence investigations alike." EPIC and a coalition also recently urged Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates to uphold a promise to give a public estimate of how many Americans are caught up in NSA surveillance of foreign targets. EPIC is currently pursuing a Freedom of Information Act request for a government report to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court about FBI search of Section 702 data for domestic criminal investigations.