Yesterday, the USA Foreign Intelligence Court of Foreign Intelligence published its conclusion from April 2022, exposing the FBI’s illegal use of the Security 702 database, a massive collection of communication records and other information used by both the FBI and the NSA.
The court found that the FBI made over 287,000 unlawful requests in 2020 and 2021 to access the database, which was created under Section 702 of the Law on Surveillance for Foreign Intelligence. The targets of these searches were individuals such as the January 6 protesters, those arrested during the protests against the murder of George Floyd by police, and approximately 19,000 American investors in an undisclosed US Congress campaign.
Section 702 allows the US government to collect data from foreign targets, with Americans’ communication records being included in the database if they communicate with someone outside the United States. The FBI is only allowed to search the database if agents have reason to believe the search will provide information related to foreign intelligence goals or evidence of crimes.
However, an ANB audit at the end of 2022 discovered numerous cases of the FBI illegally using the database to search among American citizens, including Congressman Darina Lakhuda, a member of the Republican Party.
In response to the audit and court’s decision, the FBI claimed that the abuse was due to a “misunderstanding” and promised to rectify the issue. Nevertheless, Section 702 is set to expire at the end of 2023, and unless Congress extends it, the misuse of the FBI database could continue.
Overall, the conclusion of the Foreign Intelligence Court of Foreign Intelligence is a major revelation, shedding light on the FBI’s illegal behavior and raising questions about surveillance practices in the US.