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REUTERS
WASHINGTON
Former US intelligence officials who worked for both Republican and Democratic presidents urged Congress on Monday to renew an internet surveillance programme they said has stopped militant plots and helped policy-makers steer through international crises.
The programme, authorised under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allows US spy agencies to eavesdrop on and store vast amounts of digital communications from foreign suspects living outside the United States. It will expire on Dec. 31 if Congress does not act.
"We have personally reported to our Presidents - Republican and Democratic - and to the Congress details of plots disrupted based on information from Section 702," the former intelligence chiefs said in letters to congressional leaders that were seen by Reuters.
"We strongly urge the Congress to re-authorize the programme and continue allowing the intelligence community to protect our country," they wrote.
The letter's signatories include former directors of US national intelligence, the CIA and the National Security Agency; and a former attorney general.
Rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, oppose the law in its current form because it sometimes incidentally collects communications of Americans. Those communications can then be subject to searches without a warrant by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for criminal and national security investigations.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to privately vote on Tuesday on a bill to re-authorize Section 702 that privacy advocates say will largely lack their reform priorities.
