On Thursday, House lawmakers held a hearing on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) over accusations that federal agencies use the law to conduct surveillance on US citizens.
During the hearing, the heads of federal intelligence agencies were not willing to reveal how much data they collect on US citizens through Section 702. Expert witnesses were also not able to say how many can conduct the unlawful and warrantless searches enabled by Section 702.
“We don’t actually know the scope of this collection,” said US Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Chair Sharon Bradford Franklin, who was an expert witness at the hearing.
Another expert witness, Michael Horowitz, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, said, “Compliance has been far from perfect.”
