Grassley: Letting FISA Section 702 Lapse Is a Gamble We Can’t Afford to Take

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Eighty-seven thousand.

That's how many lives were at risk in August 2024 when Austrian security services thwarted a devastating terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

Many of these lives [that could have been lost] could have been young girls from around the world, including Americans.

Now, this tragedy was halted thanks to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Austrian authorities were able to cancel the concerts and apprehend the plotting terrorists, all because U.S. intelligence agencies were able to share critical intelligence gathered under Section 702 authority before the attack occurred.

In four very short days, Title 7 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including this essential authority, expires.

We can't let that happen.

Section 702 is our most nimble and effective intelligence collection tool.

Section 702 equips our military with a strategic advantage, it protects our troops overseas and it keeps terrorists, foreign adversaries and dangerous illicit drugs from harming Americans, enabling over 90% of synthetic drug disruptions.

It helps our intelligence and law enforcement communities to defend our homeland from attacks. And it's essential for protecting our cybersecurity infrastructure.

Title 7 is critical to our national security. But it doesn't just protect us from security threats, it also protects us from government abuse and government overreach.

Now, if Title 7 expires, not only do we lose Section 702's utility, but we also lose all its civil liberties, privacy, transparency and accountability measures.

There's a dangerous assumption that the program will function seamlessly if this statute expires on Friday.

While I hope the certifications issued a few months ago will still apply in the event of the statute lapsing, this is not a certainty.

There will be high stakes litigation, and a very real possibility that intelligence collection will cease, at least temporarily.

And in this work of intelligence gathering, minutes do matter.

Letting 702 lapse is a real gamble that we can't afford to take.

So, let's be very clear: if Section 702 lapses, our adversaries will benefit greatly, and Americans will suffer.

In other words, we'll be less secure in our safety, as well as our privacy.

Over the last few weeks, I've worked closely with Senators Cotton and Warner, the administration, the national security community and members of the House to develop a product that delivers meaningful reforms, while maintaining Section 702's essential operational effectiveness.

This product is bipartisan, it's bicameral and it strikes the right balance.

The reforms in our bill build on the substantial reforms passed by Congress in 2024.

Again, I want to be clear that the reforms of 2024, that go by the acronym RISAA, are working.

FBI query compliance is at 98.9%, with the remaining noncompliant queries due to typos and other harmless errors.

This isn't the same program plagued by abuse a few years ago that civil libertarians rightly condemned, and by their condemnations brought about some of the reforms in the 2024 bill.

Our bill builds on what the House sent us a few weeks back.

It retains and strengthens the provisions and the good progress made by our colleagues in the other chamber and, at the same time, adds 11 additional reforms that deliver real transparency and accountability.

So, let me list just a few.

First, it requires the Justice Department to rescind and replace the Department of Justice memo drafted by the previous administration that, quite frankly, illegally restricts congressional oversight access to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Now, why didn't the previous administration carry out the transparency requirements of the last Congress?

I don't know, but they didn't do it.

Secondly, it gives Congress a voice in the amici appointment process, by requiring leadership to submit a bipartisan list of candidates to whom the FISC court is obliged to give the highest preference.

Three, it levies criminal penalties on those who willfully violate querying standards.

Fourth, it limits and clarifies the definition of an "electronic communication service provider," thus addressing a concern of civil liberties groups across the political spectrum.

Fifth, it requires the FBI, monthly, to submit U.S. person query justifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the Civil Liberties Protection Officer for review.

And, sixth, it requires noncompliant queries or abuse to be referred to the Inspector General.

Now there's other points that could be made, and I could go on, but I think the point's very clear when it comes to transparency and accountability, that we've added to what was started in 2024.

There's no doubt that this bill is a compromise. That's how things are done in the United States Congress, and particularly, in the Senate.

This bill isn't the clean reauthorization called for by the administration.

This bill also isn't the maximalist approach called for by some skeptics of this program.

This bill reflects what the American people expect and deserve: the reauthorization of an important national security tool, but coupled with meaningful guardrails and transparency.

If Title 7 lapses, not only will these thoughtful and thorough reforms fail to become reality, but we'll lose many of the key reforms instituted in the last reauthorization of 2024.

Section 702 is the most transparent and most scrutinized intelligence collection in history. If it lapses, so does Congress's essential insight into and oversight of its functions.

So, we owe it to our constituents to protect them from threats from terrorists and other adversaries, but also to defend their privacy and civil liberties.

Our bipartisan, bicameral, thoughtful bill accomplishes both goals.

I appreciate the collaboration with my colleagues Senators Cotton and Warner.

And I appreciate the collaboration and engagement from the administration, and from our national security partners.

I'm grateful for the engagement from the House of Representatives.

We got this bill to a very good place, and it's the kind of bill that should have significant support from both sides of the aisle.

Now, we need to finish this job.

We need to put aside partisanship and do what's right by the American people.

We need to advance this bill to the president's desk and reauthorize this very critical program.

My Democratic colleagues should recognize that walking away from this deal isn't hurting President Trump - it's hurting the American people.

I hope my colleagues appreciate this bill for what it is.

I pray that we can consider it later this week, and I urge everyone in this chamber to vote "yes" on reauthorizing Section 702 in this very careful and very thoughtful way, now before the United States Senate.

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