The House on Thursday passed the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual defense bill that will this year include an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702, the controversial law that permits warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals.
The House voted 310-118 in favor of the bill just before congressmen left for Christmas recess. The annual national-defense bill was passed by the Senate Wednesday, and is now headed to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. The final version of the NDAA authorizes $886 billion in national-defense spending, an increase of $28 billion over fiscal year 2023.
The critical legislation provides a 5.2 percent raise for U.S. service members, the largest military salary increase in over 20 years. Both Republicans and Democrats were largely in agreement over the provision, which also includes housing and child-care benefits for service members.
However, bipartisan debate arose concerning the reauthorization of Section 702. Although the statute is intended to obtain intelligence by surveilling the communications of foreigners based overseas, Republican critics point out that it has been used to spy on American citizens who are in contact with foreign nationals.
Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) one of FISA’s sharpest detractors, argues Congress should have reformed the statute before passing it this week ahead of its expiration deadline. Lee and other lawmakers wanted FISA to explicitly prohibit the warrantless surveillance of Americans, saying the far-reaching law as it stands violates their civil rights. The act was set to expire by the end of the year.
Supporters of FISA, on the other hand, argue FISA is critical to protecting national security against foreign threats. Just last week, FBI director Christopher Wray made his case before the Senate in favor of its reauthorization without major reform.
Wray testified that allowing the law to lapse in any way would be damaging to national security and the FBI’s ability to counter cyber and terrorism threats. “I think blinding us, through either allowing 702 to lapse or amending it in a way that guts its effectiveness, would be reckless at best and dangerous and irresponsible at worst,” he said.
Funding for the federal surveillance program was extended to April 2024.