File photo of Paul Abbate, deputy director of the FBI, at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on May 2, 2023. Photo: Eric Lee/Bloomberg (Getty Images)
Congress
reauthorized
America’s
warrantless
wiretapping
program
last
month
after
some
successful
fearmongering
by
national
security
hawks
on
Capitol
Hill.
But
an
internal
FBI
email,
leaked
to
Wired
on
Wednesday,
may
accidentally
reveal
how
the
federal
law
enforcement
agency
plans
to
overstep
the
spirit
of
the
law,
while
technically
maintaining
the
letter
of
the
law.
The
controversial
spying
program
is
Section
702
in
the
Foreign
Intelligence
Surveillance
Act
(FISA)
and
allows
the
interception
of
foreign
communications
that
sometimes
include
American
citizens.
The
program
ostensibly
includes
safeguards
to
ensure
the
law
isn’t
being
used
to
unnecessarily
spy
on
Americans,
but
it’s
pretty
clear
from
this
new
email
that
the
FBI
likes
being
able
to
get
communications
from
Americans.
The
email
obtained
by
Wired
dated
April
20
was
written
by
FBI
Deputy
Director
Paul
Abbate
and
sent
out
to
employees
internally.
“To continue to demonstrate why tools like this are essential to our mission, we need to use them, while also holding ourselves accountable for doing so properly and in compliance with legal requirements,” the email reads, according to Wired, which notes that the italicization on the word “use” was in the original email.
The
FBI
email
made
things
even
more
explicit
by
encouraging
searches
for
Americans
when
looking
through
intercepted
communications.
“I urge everyone to continue to look for ways to appropriately use US person queries to advance the mission, with the added confidence that this new pre-approval requirement will help ensure that those queries are fully compliant with the law,” the email reads.
The
FBI’s
response
to
Wired
is
particularly
interesting,
making
it
worth
quoting
at
length.
From
Wired:
Following publication, FBI spokesperson Susan McKee provided a statement from the bureau that mischaracterized WIRED’s reporting, inaccurately claiming it “alleged that that the FBI instructed its employees to violate the law or FBI policies.” The statement added that Abbate’s email “emphasized Congress’ recognition of the vital importance of FISA Section 702 to protect the American people and was sent to ensure that FBI personnel were immediately aware of, and in compliance with, the privacy enhancing changes the law has put in place.”
Obviously, the FBI is going to say everyone at the agency follows the law since they quite literally are the law. But Wired spoke with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California who notes this newly leaked email “directly contradicts earlier assertions” by the FBI when the agency was trying to get the law reauthorized.
It’s all a mess. The FBI got exactly what it wanted with the reauthorization of Section 702, something that was never really in doubt, even with pressure from a handful of politicians who opposed it. To paraphrase former president Richard Nixon, it’s not illegal when the FBI does it. But what are you going to do in such a ridiculously rigged system?
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