House Republicans are pushing for major reforms to the FBI following a report on its use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from special counsel John Durham.
House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Turner, R-Ohio, joined with members of the panel’s FISA Working Group in telling the Washington Examiner about their argument for putting restrictions on FISA powers.
“We have been very clear on a bipartisan basis with the intelligence community and the FBI that there is no support in Congress for a clean reauthorization of 702,” Turner said. “Reforms are necessary. We will be taking up the issue of reforms, and they will not be limited to 702 itself. It will encompass both abuses that we are aware of and abuses that are now in the public domain as a result of disclosure and Durham.”
Turner noted that FISA is “essential” for the FBI as a tool for national security, but he added that “it is equally essential that reforms occur to stop the abuses.”
He added that Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., the designated head of the FISA Working Group, was himself “subject to improper 702 query, so he brings with him both an understanding of FISA and the importance of stopping the abuses.”
Turner continued, “We’re going to be looking at all aspects of FISA for reform, including the manner in which cases are processed by the FISA court, the manner in which people have access to FISA information, the standards that are applied for its access, and the manner in which the intelligence community shares that information among themselves.”
