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The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence today unveiled members of its bipartisan working group focused on overseeing the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Section 702 is a key provision of FISA that allows the government to conduct targeted surveillance of non-U.S. persons located abroad to acquire foreign intelligence information. Title VII of FISA is scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2023.

At the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence's Worldwide Threats hearing on March 9, 2023, Chairman Turner announced the creation of the bipartisan working group. The working group will lead the effort to educate Members of Congress about the necessity of reauthorizing Section 702 while considering meaningful reforms to improve the legislation and protect American civil liberties from cases of misuse and exploitation. 

The working group members are:

Rep. Darin LaHood (IL-16)

Rep. Chris Stewart (UT-02)

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01)

Rep. André Carson (IN-07)

Rep. Joaquin Castro (TX-20)

Rep. Jason Crow (CO-06)

“The reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a top legislative priority for the House Intelligence Committee. Unfortunately, there have been significant and egregious abuses of Section 702 that have eroded the trust of the American people, putting FISA’s reauthorization at risk. I believe that the reauthorization of Section 702 is necessary to ensure the Intelligence Community maintains its ability to collect invaluable foreign intelligence to stay a step ahead of our adversaries, but corrections must be made to protect American citizens’ constitutional rights. Our FISA Working Group, led by Representative Darin LaHood, is committed to finding bipartisan solutions to reform the Intelligence Community’s foreign surveillance tools,” said Chairman Mike Turner.

“FISA 702 is a powerful tool that the Intelligence Community uses every day to prevent terrorist attacks, disrupt cyber attacks, and gain unique intelligence insights on foreign targets,” said Ranking Member Jim Himes. “Allowing this critical authority to lapse would be deeply negligent and put our national security at risk. At the same time, it is our duty as Representatives to ensure that these authorities do not violate Americans’ constitutionally protected rights and to look at further reforms to protect those rights. The six members of this working group encapsulated the thoughtful, pragmatic, bipartisan approach that will be essential to tackling one of the most important issues facing this Congress.”