Senate approves reauthorization of key US surveillance program

WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden signed legislation Saturday reauthorizing a key U.S. surveillance law after divisions over whether the FBI should be blocked from using the program to search for U.S. data nearly came to an end. forced the expiration of the law.

Barely past the midnight deadline, the Senate approved the bill on a 60- to 34-hour vote earlier with bipartisan support, extending the program known as Section 702 of the Protection Act for two years. foreign intelligence surveillance. Biden thanked congressional leaders for their work.

Just in time, we're reauthorizing FISA just before it expires at midnight, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said as voting on final passage began 15 minutes before the deadline. All day long we persisted and persisted in trying to achieve a breakthrough, and in the end we succeeded.

U.S. officials have said the surveillance tool, first authorized in 2008 and renewed several times since then, is crucial to disrupting terrorist attacks, cyber intrusions and foreign espionage and has also produced intelligence that the United States relied on for specific operations, such as the 2022 assassination of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

If you miss a key piece of intelligence, you risk missing an event overseas or putting troops in danger, said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. You may miss a plot to harm the country here, nationally or elsewhere. So in this particular case there are real implications.

The proposal would renew the program, which allows the U.S. government to collect the communications of non-Americans outside the country without a warrant to gather foreign intelligence. The reauthorization faced a long and bumpy road to final passage Friday, after months of clashes between privacy advocates and national security hawks that pushed consideration of the legislation to the brink of exhalation.

Although the spy program was technically set to expire at midnight, the Biden administration had said it expected its intelligence-gathering authority to remain operational for at least another year, thanks to an advisory issued earlier this month by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which receives surveillance information. applications.

Still, officials said the court's approval should not replace congressional authorization, especially since communications companies could stop cooperating with the government if the program were to expire.

Hours before the law expired, U.S. officials were already scrambling after two major U.S. communications providers said they would stop complying with orders through the surveillance program, according to a person familiar with the matter, who said spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. private negotiations.

Attorney General Merrick Garland welcomed the reauthorization and reiterated how essential the tool is to the Justice Department.

This reauthorization of Section 702 gives the United States the authority to continue collecting foreign intelligence on non-U.S. persons located outside the United States, while codifying important reforms that the Department of Justice has adopted to ensure the privacy and rights of Americans are protected. civil liberties, Garland said in a statement Saturday.

But despite urgings from the Biden administration and classified briefings to senators this week on the crucial role they say the spy program plays in protecting national security, a group of progressive and conservative lawmakers who are pushing for further changes refused to accept the version of the bill. the House sent it last week.

Lawmakers had demanded that Schumer, D-N.Y., allow votes on amendments to the legislation that would seek to close what they see as civil liberties gaps in the bill. Ultimately, Schumer was able to reach a deal that would allow critics to receive votes on their amendments in exchange for speeding up the adoption process.

The six amendments ultimately failed to garner the support needed to be included in the final passage.

One of the main changes proposed by critics was to restrict the FBI's access to information about Americans through the program. Although the surveillance tool only targets non-Americans in other countries, it also collects Americans' communications when they are in contact with the targeted foreigners. Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, had championed a proposal that would require U.S. officials to obtain a warrant before accessing U.S. communications.

If the government wants to spy on my private communications or the private communications of any American, it should be required to get a judge's approval, just as our Founding Fathers intended when they wrote the Constitution, said Durbin.

Over the past year, U.S. officials have revealed a series of abuses and errors by FBI analysts in improperly querying the intelligence repository for information on Americans or others in the United States, including a member of Congress and participants in the 2020 racial justice protests and Congress. January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.

But members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, as well as the Justice Department, warned that requiring a warrant would seriously hamper officials' ability to respond quickly to imminent threats to national security.

I think that's a risk we can't afford to take given the wide range of challenges our country faces around the world, said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

__

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://apnews.com/article/fisa-donald-trump-surveillance-congress-johnson-81e991c9f82e77b2fe13f8a3e0e25349 The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos