President Biden on Saturday signed into law a bill that seeks to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and introduce reforms to better protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan issued a statement calling FISA’s Section 702 one of the country’s “most vital intelligence collection tools.”
“The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act will retain essential authority to understand and protect against a wide range of dangerous threats to Americans while enhancing safeguards for privacy and civil liberties through the most robust set of reforms ever included in legislation to reauthorize Section 702,” Sullivan added.
The president signed the measure hours after the Senate cleared the reauthorization legislation in a 60-34 vote, The Hill reported.
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that Section 702 plays an “indispensable” role in the Department of Justice’s efforts to protect citizens from cyberthreats, nation-state actors and terrorists.
“This reauthorization of Section 702 gives the United States the authority to continue to collect foreign intelligence information about non-U.S. persons located outside the United States, while at the same time codifying important reforms the Justice Department has adopted to ensure the protection of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties,” Garland added.
