The president supports renewing Section 702 while maintaining prior reforms as lawmakers face an upcoming deadline.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he supports renewing a key federal surveillance authority, urging Congress to approve an extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
In a statement shared on Truth Social, Trump backed efforts by congressional leadership to pass an 18-month extension while keeping previously enacted safeguards in place.
“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have been working to pass a clean extension of FISA Section 702, a Law that was passed many years ago by Congress to collect Intelligence on Foreigners and Noncitizens,” Trump said. “When used properly, FISA is an effective tool to keep Americans safe. For these reasons, I have called for a clean 18-month extension, HOWEVER, the Critical and Common Sense Reforms that were made in the last Reauthorization of FISA must remain intact to protect the American People from abuses.”
Section 702 authorizes intelligence agencies to monitor foreign individuals located outside the United States. The program has drawn attention from privacy advocates because it can involve the collection and storage of communications that include U.S. citizens when those individuals are in contact with foreign targets. The database created under the program is accessible across multiple agencies, subject to internal controls.
Trump referenced prior controversies involving surveillance authorities, stating, “Nobody understands this better than me, as I was a victim of the worst and most illegal abuse of FISA in our Nation’s History, by Radical Left Lunatics who lied to the FISA Court to spy on my 2016 Presidential Campaign in their attempt to RIG the Election in favor of Crooked Hillary Clinton.” He added that reforms implemented in recent years are being enforced across the executive branch.
“That is why, since the first day of my already Historic Second Term, my Administration has worked tirelessly to ensure these Reforms are being aggressively executed at every level of the Executive Branch to keep Americans safe, while protecting their sacred Civil Liberties guaranteed by our Great Constitution,” Trump said.
The president also cited current military operations and security concerns as reasons to maintain the authority.
“With the ongoing successful Military activities against the Terrorist Iranian Regime, it is more important than ever that we remain vigilant, PROTECT our Homeland, Troops, and Diplomats stationed abroad, and maintain our ability to quickly stop bad actors seeking to cause harm to our People and our Country,” he said. “The fact is, whether you like FISA or not, it is extremely important to our Military. I have spoken to many Generals about this, and they consider it vital. Not one said, even tacitly, that they can do without it — especially right now with our brilliant Military Operation in Iran.”
Congress is considering next steps as the current authorization approaches expiration.
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