F.B.I. Botched Query on Senator Even as Its Adherence to Wiretap Program Rules Rose
An F.B.I. analyst improperly used a high-profile warrantless surveillance program to conduct overly broad searches about two lawmakers, including a U.S. senator, last June, a newly declassified court ruling released on Friday shows, even as the bureau has overall improved compliance with limits on the program.
In the June 2022 episode, the analyst had a legitimate reason for searching for information about the legislators, who also included a state lawmaker, in a repository of intercepts, the ruling said, because evidence suggested that they were targets of a foreign intelligence service. But the queries were too wide-ranging, using only their last names without limiting terms to screen out irrelevant material, it said.
The episode is likely to fuel criticism of the program, which is set to expire at the end of the year, as Congress debates whether or how to enact legislation to extend it. A series of earlier disclosures about recent violations of querying standards by the F.B.I. — many of which took place before a series of internal changes in 2021 and 2022 — has given fodder to its skeptics.
Known as Section 702, the law traces back to 2008 when Congress legalized a version of a warrantless surveillance program secretly created after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It allows the government to collect, from American companies like Google and without a warrant, the communications of targeted foreigners abroad in order to gather intelligence about foreign governments, terrorists and proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.
Source: The New York Times
