April 16, 2024

Dear Friend,

Safeguarding American citizens’ personal liberty is one of my priorities. I’ve been a consistent voice that Congress must institute strong safeguards on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). FISA was intended to constrain the FBI to provide greater opportunity for oversight. Without it, the intelligence community’s (IC) activities are guided by a series of DOJ legal interpretations that are overly broad and not well defined.

Recently, the House passed with my support H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, legislation that makes numerous reforms and ends FISA as we’ve known it. I am strongly opposed to warrantless surveillance and am very disappointed that the amendment I supported, which would have required the FBI to obtain a warrant, failed on a tie vote. On April 15, 2024, I voted with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) on a procedural vote that would have allowed the House to revisit the FISA reauthorization and continue working to include the warrant requirement. Unfortunately, this measure failed. H.R. 7888 is now awaiting further action in the Senate.

The reforms included in H.R. 7888 are a step in the right direction. Most importantly, this legislation sunsets FISA in two years, rather than five, and I’m confident that under a Trump Administration, further reforms to this program can be made to protect Americans’ civil liberties. Key changes to FISA include:

• Closing the Carter Page loophole and requiring the FBI to justify in court that a U.S. person is in violation of U.S. criminal code in an electronic surveillance application.
  
  
• Prohibiting the use of political oppo- research or news articles to get a FISA order.
  
  
• Appointing an independent lawyer at FISA Court on behalf of the American the FBI is applying for a warrant against.
  
  
• Creating a criminal penalty of 10 years in prison and/or $250,000 fine for leaking a FISA application.
  
  
• Requiring an annual report to Congress on how the FBI is disciplining FISA query violators.

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Your servant,

Daniel Webster
Member of Congress