Senate renews surveillance law that collects email from an unknown number of Americans

Erin Kelly | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to renew for six years a surveillance program that collects the content of an unknown number of Americans' email, text messages, photos and other electronic communication without a warrant.

The Senate voted 65-34 to renew the controversial law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The action came after Senate leaders narrowly won a vote Tuesday night to allow the renewal bill to move forward.

The House approved the legislation last week, and President Trump is expected to sign the bill before the law expires at midnight Friday.

Federal intelligence agencies, which urged Congress to renew the law, have credited the program with thwarting terrorist attacks against the U.S. by giving them the power to spy on the electronic communications of foreigners located outside the U.S.

"The men and women we trust to protect this country say this capability is essential to their missions," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday in a speech on the Senate floor. "They tell us that it has saved American lives. That is why we cannot let this capability lapse."

Critics say they support the law's anti-terrorism goals, but want to amend it to protect Americans' constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. Specifically, they want federal agents to get warrants before searching through a database of Americans' emails and texts that are collected as part of the foreign surveillance.

“Our intelligence agencies do need a FISA program to protect us," said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. "But our security as a people also requires real protections from invasive governmental spying."

The Section 702 program was originally approved by Congress in 2008 to increase the government's ability to track and thwart foreign terrorists in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

It was designed to spy on foreign citizens living outside the U.S. and bars the targeting of American citizens or anyone residing in the U.S. But critics say the program also sweeps up the electronic data of innocent Americans who may be communicating with foreign friends or relatives, even when those foreigners aren't suspected of terrorist activity.

Intelligence officials have so far refused to tell Congress how many unknowing Americans have had their personal communications collected under the program.

Civil liberties groups of all political stripes fear that the FBI and other federal agents could use the information collected on Americans to search for evidence of domestic crimes — such as failing to pay taxes or minor drug offenses — without having to obtain a warrant as they normally would in such cases.

"The government will use this bill to continue warrantless intrusions into Americans’ private emails, text messages, and other communications," said Neema Singh Guliani, policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union. "No president should have this power."

Supporters of the law say that federal courts have upheld its constitutionality and that critics' concerns are unwarranted. They credit the law with stopping terrorist plots to bomb the New York City subway system and the New York Stock Exchange.

"Let me be clear: this has been tested in the courts and the courts have ruled that this program is lawful and constitutional," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The debate crossed party lines, with libertarian-minded Republicans such as Lee, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Sen. Steve Daines of Montana joining with liberal Democrats such as Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Kamala Harris of California in seeking changes to the law.

The surveillance program also had bipartisan supporters, including Burr and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee.

The issue highlighted the continued split between privacy rights advocates and security hawks in Congress.

More: What is the Section 702 surveillance program and why should you care?

More: House votes to renew surveillance law that may collect Americans' emails without warrants

More: Trump criticizes surveillance law his administration wants to extend, then reverses



