Convenient that this news was pushed out on a Friday to try and bury it in the headlines…
The recent news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has engaged in illegal surveillance on at least one U.S. Senator and a state lawmaker has left many people stunned.
The Section 702 database, managed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, contains information that can be accessed by both the FBI and NSA however, it is only allowed to be queried if there is an investigation involving foreign intelligence agencies.
Unfortunately, two separate incidents have been uncovered where agents conducted searches on politicians without meeting the required threshold for accessing this data.
According to court documents released Friday, one analyst had knowledge of a particular foreign intelligence service targeting a U.S. Senator and State Senator yet failed to meet the standards set out for searching this database.
In October 2020, another agent similarly searched social security information from a state-level judge who had filed complaints with the FBI about civil rights violations committed by a city police chief – again without satisfying these requirements.
Although it remains unclear which legislators were subjected to unlawful surveillance, they have since been notified about what happened.
The federal court tasked with overseeing the corrupt intelligence community’s use of its spy powers released an opinion today that found that the FBI illegally spied on a U.S. senator, a state senator, and a state judge. https://t.co/cr2Upnd47S pic.twitter.com/CXchD3fvcl
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 21, 2023
When discussing this latest breach in protocol, FBI Director Christopher Wray framed it as improvement from previous misconduct saying “The 2023 FISC Opinion confirms the significant improvement in the FBI’s Section 702 querying compliance since the implementation of our substantial reforms…We take seriously our role in protecting national security and we take just as seriously our responsibility to be good stewards of our Section 702 authorities.”
This statement came soon after reports revealed that thousands of Americans involved in January 6 Capitol protests and BLM demonstrations were illegally surveilled last year – with 300 thousand abuses being documented between 2020-2021 alone according to FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court review records!
One anonymous employee was even found to have run 23132 inquiries regarding US citizens despite having no legitimate reason for doing so.
These revelations are concerning not just for Americans but also for those within government as well, especially considering their implications when it comes time for renewing FISA surveillance later down the line – an issue which already faces opposition from both sides due to its potential risks posed towards privacy rights infringement among other things.
