House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Turner is celebrating the passage of HR 6611, the 2023 FISA reauthorization bill.
Chairman Turner would have granted a clean FISA renewal, he’s that kind of Republican; however, several Republicans demanded changes to the FISA-702 authorities that capture the data of American citizens without a warrant. Thus, the HPSCI modified the authorities within HR 6611, but they made it worse.
(Via CDT) – Tucked away near the end of the bill the House Intelligence Committee reported on December 7 (H.R. 6611, the “HPSCI bill”) is a provision that would dramatically expand surveillance under the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA 702”), which sunsets on December 31 unless reauthorized. Section 504 of the bill, innocuously captioned “Definition of Electronic Communications Service Provider,” would expand the types of entities that can be compelled to disclose internet communications whether in storage or in transit.
FISA 702 permits the U.S. government to compel communication service providers to disclose for foreign intelligence purposes the communications of persons reasonably believed to be non-U.S. persons abroad. No warrant is required; a belief that the communications relate to U.S. foreign affairs or national security is sufficient. Under current FISA 702, only entities that provide communication services like email, calls, and text messaging can be compelled to disclose these communications.
As FISA Court amicus and longtime practitioner Marc Zwilligener and his colleague Steve Lane have already noted, the HPSCI bill would upend the current system, enabling the government to compel anyone with mere access to the equipment on which such communications are stored or transmitted to disclose those communications. That could include personnel at coffee shops that offer WiFi to their customers, a town library that offers public computer internet services, hotels, shared workspaces, landlords and even AirBNB hosts that offer WiFi to the people who stay there, cloud storage services that host but do not access data, and large data centers that rent out computer server space to their clients.
The provision is intended to reverse a rare decision of the FISA Court of Review (FISCR), which had rejected the government’s claim that a service that a company provided fit within the scope of Section 702. In its effort to override the FISCR ruling, the HPSCI bill has opened Pandora’s Box.
Because FISA 702 does not merely give the government power to compel production of communications but rather to require that businesses “provide the Government with all information, facilities, or assistance necessary to accomplish the acquisition,” [emphasis supplied] the government could use this new section to compel changes to the infrastructure and operations of some of the business entities listed above. For example, a provider of computer co-location services whose business model is to rent out and to service space on which its clients place their computer servers could be compelled to engineer its service to facilitate such access. In addition, because the HPSCI bill’s expansion is designed to pull in entities that do not currently even have access to communications, the extent of this forced restructure could be severe.
Such a shift not only affects American businesses, it is also likely to spur on overcollection and improperly sweep in Americans’ communications. The expansion would likely facilitate compelled “Upstream” collection from these entities, a technique in which the government demands access to the entire stream of communications data, rather than obtaining only the communications to and from surveillance targets. It may be difficult for businesses that have access to equipment on which communications are stored and transmitted, but have never had to access the communications themselves, to ensure that only the data of Section 702 targets is turned over to the government.
Instead, they may be compelled to turn over entire communication streams or permit the copying and dragnet scanning of all the data on a server they host. Upstream collection performed by sophisticated giant telcos who operate the Internet backbone already has a fraught history of overcollection, including sweeping in wholly domestic communications (such as through multi communication transaction and “Abouts” collection). Forcing businesses that do not by practice even access communications to comply with FISA 702 orders—including Upstream orders—is reckless, and very likely to cause domestic communications to be improperly collected. (read more)
Here’s the core problem. The DATA COLLECTION is not going away, meaning the wholesale gathering of the metadata on all electronic communication is the baseline. As long as that baseline exists, the debate is about how the metadata can be accessed and what queries into that data can take place without a search warrant.
If FISA-702 was completely removed, the executive branch (DOJ-NSD) would be on the honor system, which essentially- they are now.
As long as the capability to retrieve and store the data exists, it will be exploited. The data collection horse left the barn long ago. That reality only leaves the ability to limit access as a solution to the abuses and warrantless surveillance.
Having looked extensively at this issue for years, and accepting the data collection is never going to be stopped, the only pathway to try and ensure rules and regulations are compliant with the 4th amendment, would be an oversight panel from the legislative branch put inside the process.
The only time the legislative branch has any power in the FISA process, is when they reauthorize its use. Only at these specific moments is the legislative branch currently involved. At all other times, it is the executive branch (DOJ, DOJ-NSD and FBI) involved, along with the FISA Court which represents the judicial branch. The absence of the legislative branch in the process could be considered the oversight problem.
FISA, as it applies to American citizens caught up in the “incidental collection,” is clearly weaponized. The underlying database, the storage system for all data, is the other problem. As long as thousands of people in the executive branch have access to search this database, that access will be abused.
[CTH] – Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified, April 27, 2023, that more than 3.4 million search queries into the NSA database took place between Dec. 1st, 2020 and Nov. 30th, 2021, by government officials and/or contractors working on behalf of the federal government. These search queries were based on authorizations related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Approximately 30% of those 3.4 million search queries were outside the rules and regulations that govern warrantless searches – what the politically correct government calls “non-compliant searches.” That means during the year 2021, more than 1 million searches of private documents and communication of Americans were illegal and outside the rules.
Additionally, IG Horowitz admitted that somewhere north of 10,000 federal employees have access to conduct these searches of the NSA database; a database which contains the electronic data of every single American, including emails, text messages, social media posts, instant messages, direct messages, phone calls, geolocation identifiers, purchases by electronic funds, banking records and any keystroke any American person puts into any electronic device for any reason. (more)
In my opinion, instead of trying to put the FISA genie back into the bottle, Congress needs to work on the accountability piece. The punishment for abusing the database needs to be defined – perhaps 5 years imprisonment for each search violation.
The only thing I can think of that will improve the “702” issue, is a legislatively created oversight panel forced within the process (that puts the legislative branch inside the DOJ/FISC relationship) that has full access to see and monitor everything that is being done by the DOJ/FBI.
I don’t know if that would work, but it’s better than what they are doing now.
The Committee on Rules will meet on Monday, December 11, 2023 at 4:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:
H.R. 357 – Ensuring Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act
H.R. 1147 – Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2023
H.R. 6570 – Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act
H.R. 6611 – FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023 (link)
The current FISA-702 authority will likely be extended to April 19th.
Hopefully the Senate will block the modified House bill, HR 6611, which expands the current authority.
FUBAR
In my opinion, Mike Johnson has just acquired his first Awshit. It will take a lotta’ Attaboys to overcome that blemish on his record.
Isn’t it the second? I am bad at recall these days but mine includes his allowing another big bundle of regime pork to go forward recently…
On J6 it did appear that he made a good step, but I could be wrong on that.
And on impeachment of Xiden – my take is that he is indeed desperate to move the inquiry forward – so it can go along slowly all year and get nowhere while he points to it and raises money off it.
That strategy will age fast. It was DOA on arrival with me, and I suppose with others here. Several analysts have pointed out far more useful things he could be doing, but is not. Most useful would be a LOT more defunding – has he done any?
It’s always easy to tell, actually, from the fund-raising. I had never heard of him until he got into the seat and now I get at least 3 texts a daily. I wonder how many of those have to go out before he makes a dent in that money stash that McCarthy is trying to walk away with.
Allowing faces in the J6 videos to be obscured as well. Imcreasingly obvious the speaker is a squish.
They just tried to sell us on a great change but the truth is the good Representatives are hiding below their desks and watching a 5th grade brawl and the bullies are winning over all of us.
We shouldn’t think that they would authorize and approve anyone who would actually make a difference, or go against the UniParty regime. They’re not going to.
As is in all “appointments,” the “gatekeepers” determine who gets in and who is locked out.
Nope this strike 2, he is dangerously close to being McCarthy 2.0 if he doesn’t come to his senses! I often disagree with Chip Roy on many things but he is right on the money with regards to Johnson!!! The man still seems to have that deer in the headlights look! 🤨
Mike McJohnson
Mike ‘Fisa 702’ Turner You Are Through. Your Conservative Lifetime Voting is 43%. We Will Primary your ass in 2024!
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/12/09/the-modified-fisa-702-reauthorization-bill-hr-6611-has-passed-the-house-the-changes-have-expanded-federal-surveillance-of-americans/
Stated simply, “these people are now obsessed.”
They plainly see the collapse of the power (and money, certainly …) which they held throughout their lifetime. “A greater one (and far richer) than any one of them has now come. And, the enemy that they schemed and plotted against as justification for vast (and very lucrative to them) military spending, Russia, has now made a mockery of them.
China is also mocking them. Because they well deserve to be mocked.
It is no wonder, then, that they now proclaim We, The People to be “an enemy of the people.” Now’s a great time to be selling computers and data-collection hardware and any sort of software. Because they will be buying it obsessively. “Anything goes: just tell them it can see everything.” 🤡
It’s the only way the few will have the power to enslave the many, 24/7/365 surveillence from the cradle to the grave.
“Alexa, why are you and our phones being used to spy on us everywhere we go, and reording our every word?
Alexa: Resistance is futile. All will be assimulated or recycled back into the food supply.
The reason the FBI is so F** up they recruit brainwashed leftards from libtard colleges…The US education system has been hijacked years ago USA is doomed to fail it turned communist…A country is divided on purpose and why we will fail..You been told its leadership and the 7th floor nope its 10x worse then that…..
I tell everyone who will listen that today, our new teachers, can’t be trusted with the minds of our kiddos because they all are indoctrinated in college. That goes for private schools, Christian schools, public schools, etc. Yep, a once brand new industry is beginning to mature and that is “home school.”
Better yet, think about all this computer teaching in schools. The first thing is the MSN that pops up when the kiddos click on their computer daily. News from good ole Microsoft liberal founder is pushed into their minds and the teachers eat it up too.
Hence, why homeschooling is better. Then trade school.
This is a realistic assessment .
My Christmas wish is that the congress critters would stop doing things to us in the name of doing things for us. I just want to be left alone … sadly that won’t happen.
They will have to be forced to stop and removed if they don’t.
Gasp! …you’ve just said the quiet part out loud. 🙂
General warrants are forbidden by our constitution.
The constitution has been violated into insignificance. From the bottom to the top all are corrupt and that includes the scotus.
Tell that to President Trump re: the warrant for Mar-A-Lago raid
Daniel ch 12 v 4
4But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
“Knowledge shall be increased” now enters a new aspect of understanding.
RJH, you have cited the ultimate source of truth and what that truth portends for the world. Sadly for those who are lost and happily for believers, we are now in what I term the Biblical Terminus of times. It won’t make a bucket of spit difference what anyone does because we are on God’s timeline and He told us everything that is coming…..one world government, one world currency, one world leader, and the consequences of rejecting His offered grace. I’m looking to be outta here soon and watching the show from the balcony seats. It’s going to be really ugly.
There’s no rapture. Christians living in the end times will suffer the tribulation like everyone else.
Not very knowledgeable of Scripture!
Source it dood!
But…We “Believers are not appointed unto Wrath”. So we’ll see some of the Tribulation, but the last wrath of God will not be ours to endure.
Sadly knowledge has not been increased, nothing new under the sun. Information however is a tsunami of ignorance and is killing us.
I’m still rooting for climate change to flood DC to the point of abandonment, Al Gore said it was due by 2012. I haven’t given up hope. Yet.
Will you pick up a gun when it is necessary to get back your freedom?
What do you propose that I do with it? What is the target, and who is going to point me at it?
Mike “I’d sell out your 1st and 4th amendments just to save one aborted baby” Johnson
It’s all a matter of perspective. Who is pregnant? How old is she? When did it happen? Who are the principals? Is there a threat to the mother? And fear of the possibility of pregnancy is not exclusive to teenagers.
Johnson is in a snake pit – He needs LOTS of help.
Let’s hear it for Mike Johnson!! Laura Loomer was right about him from the very beginning.
She simply believes the worst of them all and therefore has a terrific prognostication track record.
LOL our govmint working under the “honor” system. In this day and age of a rogue unvaunted fbi and other not so intelligent intelligence gathering groups the honor system is laughable.
As we know, the nub of the issue is the reverse (in time) warrant – the warrant that looks back in time from when the warrant was issued – only possible because of the warrantless collection and storage of the communications held for all time in the patriot act database. And of course, the doctrine of parallel construction (an illegal search off the database can be made legal retroactively with a warrant) that springs from that. In other words, the FISA court created to protect the 4th amendment, has been flipped on its head and is now a court process that launders illegal searchers retroactively. So the exact illegal surveillance of the Trump/family/campaign/liking/retweeting laundered via the Carter Page warrant -lie to the FISA court- insurance policy – is still in play. + expanded definition of what goes into the patriot database into first place. Guessing they want ht expanded collection to get after the alternative economy – such as rumble chats, web sites like this, and contemplating new technology that could provides further anonymity to posts such as this.
Excellent summary!
What, exactly is Johnson doing? There is no such thing as a conservative on DC. Primary them all!
We The People need to push our State Legislatures to approve the Article V Convention of States, and demand repeal of FISA and the Patriot Act. Congress will never do it.
The Article V Convention of States Movement is one big TRAP–No way to stop it from making America a Province of CCP.
100% agreed. The expectation that somehow these same crooked politicians can “fix” the constitution that they themselves have gutted time and time again is folly.
Exactly! AND the Constitution we have now is fine, it just needs to be enforced.
Thanks for keeping us all up to date. MAGA 👊👊🙏🏻🙏🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸❤️❤️
Will people ever accept that there are NO members of the professional political elite that are who they self-proclaim to be. Every single one of them are wolves in sheep’s clothing. It does not matter what they say or how loudly they say it. The political club has perfected the tricks and machinations necessary to deceive those they “represent and serve” into not only believing the political theater of two opposing sides but actually paying to watch our own destruction.
Biggs & Burchett are fine. Not sure about others.
Apparently Republicans strongly feel that the Democrats do not have enough rope to hang Republicans only.
You better watch out
You better not buy (ammo)
You netter not pout
I’m telling you why (Why?)
Uncle Sam is comin’ to town, gather ’round
He’s making a list (Ooo)
And checking it twice (Ooo)
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice
Big Brother’s comin’ to town
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be obedient for goodness sake
You better watch out
You better not buy (ammo)
You better not vote (for Trump)
I’m telling you why (Ooo)
Uncle Sam is comin’ to town
Not sure what would be the measure of success for Mike Johnson. He cannot fight the dems without something to fight with and as it stands the GOP has no spine. Unlike the dems, they cannot seem to agree on much of anything, not even their own platform. He has been placed at the head of the beast. He has to herd a contingent of demons, many of whom would just as soon see the system destroyed as not. I don’t know if he is truly a MAGA patriot or if only when it’s convenient. For now, I will just focus on my local congressman and we shall pray, a lot.
Going to play these reindeer games as long as they.
Then just like the Jones man and Sundance said, 2024 is when they have to fish or cut bait, to put it polity.
Sundance, with all due respect, our representatives have shown no commitment nor inclination to reign in the surveillance mechanisms and its abuse. Somehow, that has to be changed before or simultaneously with establishing an oversight body.
I think something more foundational has to occur.
and foundational has been outlawed and flagged for review of the person’s live that brought it up.
blackmail, threats, or use of any goverment tool to submit that person follows
Are you saying effective change is already defeated?
Fascinating that INDIVIDUALS are just so, so, so potent these days that the listeners have to listen to them everywhere on the planet.
America is NOT in danger from INDIVIDUALS running around possibly acting with mayhem; that’s called common crime. It’s a hallmark of the human condition. America could only be in danger from such menaces as nuclear or biological warfare–episodes that span continents in their fallout. Short of that, there is no need for paranoid fixation with everyone’s data everywhere.
NONE.
That you Hillary?
How do you figure?
Well, well, well is a deep subject. Why did they pass this bill? Will it help them locate and identify and track all the illegals roaming the streets and backroads of our once great country?
How can The Treehouse promote a person’s merchandise that signs his name to a letter that urges support for the very unconstitutional measures about to be expanded on the American citizenry?
I for one will not be patronizing him.
Nunes didn’t. Mike Turner is not telling the truth.
hopefully you can find some information when Congress went after Nunes. ethics (they dont do stuff like this to teammates)
I remember, early 2017.
But they will continue to hold hearings on weaponization of agencies after they reward the agencies they are claiming have been Weaponized.
Ecclesiastes ch 10 v 20
20Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.
I am not hopeful the Senate will ever do anything except cow-tow to the Fibbies and the DOJ brass on anything they want to do. Until and unless the Repugs grow a spine and actually show they are supporters of our Constitution, nothing will ever be done about the Patriot Act. Sundance has no reason to even hope the Senate will block the bill, unless the DOJ is pushing to get more unconstitutional crap installed in the bill before passing it with DOJ modifications. There is no reason for the House to have passed this bill and to expect a Demcommie majority to reject a bill that helps push their Marxist agenda. Maybe that is why he included FUBAR. We have lost our Republic and nothing short of a MAGA landslide will ever restore it.
Yes. people have to realize that we are not in the process of losing the Republic, it is already lost.
“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption.”
~ Mike Vanderboegh
Every incumbent congressman and senator is compromised ……. every one. Nothing will be done of significance in the house nor senate.
It will take President Trump wielding the “2024 Constitutional Republic Mandate” to “de-authorize and dismantle the unconstitutional administrative state” without any help nor obstruction from any stinking’ congressman, senator nor jurist of the not-so-supreme-court.
You had me at “dismantle the unconstitutional administrative state”! 🙂
Article V Mandate for ‘Republican Form…” is very interesting……The legislative authority can only pass a law…..the Executive can enforce it..and do so even if Congress does not act……SCOTUS can only determine if a ‘Law’, or Executive Action, is Constitutional or not……it can neither make a Law, or Enforce a Law…… The Executive is the only AGencie that can enforce the ‘guarantee, and the Executive can Enforce the Guarantee, without either the Congress, or SCOTUS.
Put any and everyone associated with 702, down to the janitor, in jail for life. No parole. Keep it simple!
Because of course they did.
FISA is a foremost a DOMESTIC Spy Apparatus, not Foreign.
As Samuel Finlay noted: “The indisputable fact of their recent conversion to brute hawkishness reveals the truth of something David Reaboi noted, riffing on Lee Smith: “The Democratic Party doesn’t have foreign enemies. They have foreigners who remind them of domestic enemies.”
No laws matter when the Lawless rule.
We can’t have Honor System Spying with the Honor-less. see, also; Voting.
Rest in the Vine: TRUE THINGS: JAMES COMER IS FULL OF IT AND HUNTER BIDEN IS FULL OF JOE
Raises an interesting question: Patriot Act, in part, was a response to claims that 9/11 intelligence was available well before the event – so called silos/institutional barriers prevented the necessary info from being shared.
Was that all a false flag as well? I’m not one prone to such conspiracy theories. But it is something to consider.
Is everyone to be monitored?
I recon so.
that has full access to see and monitor everything that is being done by the DOJ/FBI.
NATIONAL SECURITY will be said to block oversight.
So doesn’t this mean that when the republicans say they voted for it just because it was a brief continuance, we can tell them they are lying since the provision Sundance points out is an expansion.
There are two different aspects.
(1) Current FISA authority is scheduled to run out on December 31st. That is being continued in the NDAA bill until April 19th.
(2) The House has a brand new FISA authority bill, with modifications as noted above.
#1 is needed, because #2 will not be in place prior to expiration; because the FISA changes bill must also pass the Senate.
A legislative FISA oversight panel will quickly morph into a Democrat far-Left staff vendetta tool, opposition research vehicle and incumbent protection machine. Giving politicians and Swamp-staff access will be abused.
Who will enforce the penalties for abuse? Language must be included that prosecutorial discretion/selection to enforce or not are not allowed at all and subject a prosecutor to losing his/her attorney license.
Mr johnson you are low down POS.
All DC America destruction – all the time .
Facism Is our Solitary Aim
CTH is always on point! Thank u for ur hard work!!
All paper ballots get turned into electronic format, and from there both the ALBERT Sensor and ERIC systems run in parallel. I have not seen anything to prevent this unconstitutional activity of changing votes. Add to this, the clear intent of allowing illegals to vote. 24,000 have been allowed to cross the border in just the last two days.
Around 2011 DHS created their own intrusion detection system called the ALBERT Sensor. It’s part of the larger Einstein System that protects federal agencies from cyber risks. ALBERT is a “black box” server installed on a County’s network. It collects the traffic flowing on their election network and transmits this data to a nonprofit in NY. DHS selected this non-profit to monitor all the election data from across the United Sates. It is analyzed around the clock, with the hope they can alert jurisdictions if they find any malicious traffic on their network. Few election networks had the system before 2016.
The parallels between the ERIC voter registration system and CIS ALBERT Sensors are uncanny. Both are nonprofits that collect vital election data in private. Both ERIC and CIS pilot-tested their programs in left-leaning election jurisdictions. Pew Center On The States used the same tactics, and approached the same associations, to deploy ERIC across America. CIS keeps their reports, dashboards, and insight away from the counties. ERIC keeps their dashboards, insights, and voter maintenance lists away from the public. Neither provides transparency. These parallels are not a coincidence.
CIS described the activities of RABET-V in a white paper as having taken election night reporting and poll book software from two providers and developed a process for verifying that these products are “secure” despite massive evidence to the contrary. The white paper was written by CIS’s Senior Director of Election Security, Arron Wilson, who happens to be founder and CEO of an electronic ballot delivery company call Enhanced Voting.
———————-
The point here is that the setting President committed criminal activity prior to being selected as President. Now a known criminal has been given this power.
Add to this that that Biden has given us every indication of violating the trading with the enemy act of1917.
On March 9, 1933, Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2040. It referred to the national emergency and again asserted Sec. 5(b) as authority for it. Roosevelt then proclaimed that the Proclamation of March 6, 1933, would remain in full force and effect until proclamation by the president. It remains in force to this day.
Therefore, an effectively permanent law exists that allows the president, by declaring an emergency, to assume the role of dictator. He may designate agencies of his choice to investigate, regulate, and license any transaction of any person (enemy) within the United States, by means of rules and regulations he may prescribe.
In the event the reader has lingering doubt concerning the nature and effect of the Trading With the Enemy Act, it is suggested that he read Senate Report 93-549.
https://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2015/08/trading-with-the-enemy-act-of-1917-now-today-3199932.html
DEMS control the Senate.
They’ll vote for it and as usual the RINOS will vote for it too.
They can spy on Trump again.
https://rumble.com/embed/v3xw28g/?pub=4
I would like to hear CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS comment on this. He is in charge of the FISA court and had no input? He approves of VIOLATING the CONSTIUTIONAL RIGHTS of American citizens? Where does the CRIMINAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM stand on this issue?
CONGRESS SHALL PASS NO LAW TO INFRINGE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
There are NO exemptions of our constitutional rights and protections EVER!
They cannot just simply circumvent our constitutional rights with unconstitutional legislation.
If they want to put an astrix next to our bill of rights, they need to use the remedy provided in the constitution to change it and pass an amendment that gets 2/3rds of the states approval.
Not a proclamation like an unelected dictatorship would do!