Mike Lee scolds FBI director for not answering questions about US surveillance

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee blasted FBI Director Christopher Wray at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday for refusing to answer questions related to the misuse of a controversial surveillance tool.

Lee asked Wray a series of questions about alleged and hypothetical examples of abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), asking whether the FBI removes security clearances or fires agents in them scenarios Wray declined to answer questions about FISA Section 702, which is primarily designed for foreign nationals, but also subsidies US intelligence agencies the ability to drive vigilance of American citizens.

“I don't know if I can speak to specific cases, but what I can tell you, and I think this is important for this exchange, is that all the cases that you just listed involve conduct that occurred before the reforms that we introduced. site Wray stated.

.@FBIit is supposed to be difficult for the government to spy on Americans.

That's why we have a Constitution. pic.twitter.com/28F3iOzZIR

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) December 5, 2023

“I've been on this committee for 13 years. For the entirety of it … I've raised concerns with FBI directors appointed by presidents of both political parties and three different presidential administrations,” Lee responded. “Each and every one of them told me the same thing: 'Don't worry, we've taken care of that, we've got new procedures. Now it will be different. It's never different. You haven't changed. And you keep referring to these…new procedures. We haven't seen it, we're not even allowed to have access to it, and we have absolutely no reason to trust you because you haven't behaved in a way that is trustworthy.”

The government done million warrantless backdoor searches using FISA Section 702 by 2021, seconds to a 2022 transparency report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“Even as we sit here, you can't tell me that people who intentionally, knowingly, willfully violated the civil rights of American citizens that they fired or had their authorization revoked security,” Lee continued.

Lee is part of a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers that introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act in November, which reforms Section 702 of FISA, ending warrantless searches of Americans. The goal of the legislation is to “reauthorize and reform Section 702,” as well as safeguard the rights of Americans while maintaining the tool's important oversight authorities, seconds to an advisory on Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden's website.

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