Most Americans assume that their private conversations on their electronic devices are private. They assume that what they say in private conversations in person is private. Well, not so fast.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, The Epoch Times<\/a> reported the following:<\/p>\n More than 10,000 federal employees could have access to data revealed by a secretive government surveillance program that has come under scrutiny because of alleged abuses, lawmakers were told by U.S. inspectors general.<\/strong><\/p>\n At an April 27 House Judiciary subcommittee hearing, lawmakers heard from a panel of three witnesses associated with the U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG) responsible for oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The legislation gives intelligence agencies broad powers to conduct surveillance on foreigners suspected of spying for a foreign power or belonging to a terrorist group.<\/strong><\/p>\n However, bipartisan concerns have been raised because the program also has the ability to collect information about U.S. citizens.<\/strong><\/p>\n …A court-ordered report released in May 2022 revealed that the FBI had made more than 3.3 million queries<\/a> of Americans under FISA authority. This, in turn, prompted a crisis of confidence in the FBI\u2019s respect for civil liberties among members of both parties.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article notes:\\<\/p>\n The program in question, FISA section 702, has been scrutinized for its alleged abuses. Aside from the incidents uncovered in 2021, the intelligence community (IC) has repeatedly failed audits of its use of FISA.<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2019, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz investigated a random sampling of 29 FISA cases by the FBI. None of the 29 cases chosen were found to be legitimate.<\/strong><\/p>\n The FISA is overseen by the FISA court, a secretive body that grants spying authority to U.S. intelligence agents.<\/strong><\/p>\n To make a FISA query of U.S. citizens, the FBI and other law enforcement agents are legally required to receive the approval of the closed-door FISA court.<\/strong><\/p>\n In his investigation, Horowitz found that none of the 29 randomly chosen queries had been carried out properly or legally. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said from an earlier conversation with Horowitz that in 25 of the cases, \u201cthere was unsupported, uncorroborated, or inconsistent information.\u201d The FBI couldn\u2019t even produce the relevant investigative files in the other four.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIn those 29 applications that were reviewed, the inspector general found over 400 instances of noncompliance with the Woods Procedures,\u201d Biggs said, referencing FBI procedures requiring that FISA requests be \u201cscrupulously accurate.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Since 2021, the FBI has reduced illegal queries by about 90 percent, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray.<\/strong><\/p>\n It should be noted that FISA<\/b> was<\/b> initially enacted in 1978 to create procedures for physical and electronic surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence information. Initially, FISA<\/b> addressed only electronic surveillance but has been significantly amended to address the use of pen registers and trap and trace devices, physical searches, and business records.<\/p>\n It is time to end FISA. It has been turned on American citizens. Please follow the link to read the entire article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most Americans assume that their private conversations on their electronic devices are private. They assume that what they say in private conversations in person is private. Well, not so fast. On Thursday, The Epoch Times reported the following: More than … Continue reading