More than 50 years ago, after reports of government abuse that the CIA was illegally collecting information about political activities of American citizens,the Senate created a Select Senate Commission in1975 whichbecame known as theChurch Committeenamed after its Chair, Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho).
An earlier 1972Supreme Court Decisionthat warrantless electronic surveillance constituted aFourth Amendment violationcontributed to a decade of questioning whether the country’s intelligence activities were Constitutional – those concerns may still be relevant.
The Church committee investigated intelligence abuses and covert action of the CIA, the FBI, the NSA and the IRS which led to public knowledge aboutCOINTELPRO, a massive surveillance program of Americans and an infiltration of political activities.In addition, the Church Committee revealed the CIA’sMK Ultraprogram drugging Americans to influence their behavior andOperation Mockingbirddesigned to recruit journalists to influence mainstream news which has been especially successful as it continues today among many mainstream journalists.
There is little reason to believe that political surveillance and infiltration of the American people no longer occurs since identified by the Church Commission which might continue to be a current topic for further consideration.
One result of Church was adoption ofSen. Ted Kennedy’sFederal Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA)in 1977 creating astatutory frameworkto provide Congressional oversight on the government’s warrantless collection of foreign intelligence information via electronic surveillance on domestic soil. FISA was signed into law in October 1978 byPresident Jimmy Carter.
Dubbed by US intel agencies as a “critical national security tool,” FISA set government surveillance rules on national security matters as well as established a specialized FISA Court (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) to provide oversight procedures for surveillance on an annual basis which may, inadvertently, include American citizens.
With a pending 2026 reauthorization date, Congress needed to approve a stop gap measure by April 20thto reauthorize or deal with the potential expiration of FISA (HR 8035). Given a disagreement over Section 702 approval without the Fourth Amendment’s Constitutional language, the House had to scramble to approve FISA in time for Senate approval and to receive a Presidential signature by its April 20thdue date.
Reauthorization of FISA was important because it extended authorities of Title VII through to October 20, 2027.Of special interest over the years has been renewal ofSection 702which specifically authorizes the government to collect and analyze vast amounts of overseas communication surveillance on intelligenceforeign “targets.”
While no individual warrant is required for foreign intel targets, the process of surveillance may inadvertently scoop up a large volume of thousands of American names in the process — without a warrant.The government also uses Section 702 to inadvertently spy on Americans — a practice that has resulted inwidespread abusesand made the law deeply controversial.
The distinction to include Fourth Amendment (unreasonable searches) protections within FISA is crucial for protection of American citizensas the legal framework allows intelligence agencies broad application for warrantless surveillance of foreign intelligence targets outside theUnited States as also including those individuals who are interacting with Americans.
Source: Global Research
