Biden Signs Bill Extension Permitting Gov. Spying on People

"On Saturday, April 20, 2024, the President signed into law: H.R. 7888, the ‘Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act,’ which extends and modifies Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act relating to foreign intelligence gathering," Al-Mayadeen reported citing the White House's statement.

Also, the US Senate approved a bill to revise and extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), after it expired on April 19.

The White House applauded the Senate's move, describing the bill as "one of the United States’ most vital intelligence collection tools."

FISA Section 702 permits the US government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign persons located outside the US. However, lawmakers have been pursuing reforms to the authority, after an investigation revealed that the US government abused the surveillance power hundreds of thousands of times.

Back in December, Congressman Matt Rosendale said that the bill "allowed the FBI to spy on US citizens more than 278,000 times without a warrant! FISA should not be combined with our national defense, and it is unacceptable that the DC Cartel is bypassing regular order to jam Members by forcing them to vote on two unrelated bills in one vote."