FBI Director pleads for Congress to keep program accused of spying on Americans

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WATCH LIVE: FBI director faces grilling on Capitol Hill

Christopher Wray testifies in FBI oversight hearing as our nation faces growing threats.

FBI Director Christopher Wray pleaded with lawmakers on Tuesday to continue funding a controversial surveillance tool of the U.S. government.

Wray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning. In his opening remarks, he urged Congress to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which has been both credited with preventing terror attacks on U.S. soil and accused of being a vehicle for spying on U.S. citizens. 

The law lets the government keep tabs on specific foreign nationals outside the country without first obtaining a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of those communications is an American on U.S. soil. The program will expire at the end of this year if not reauthorized by Congress.

"The expiration of our 702 authorities would be devastating to the FBI's ability to protect Americans," Wray told Senate lawmakers.

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Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 05, 2023 in Washington, DC. Wray is expected to lobby for the renewal of a key part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires December 31.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

He said the FBI is aware of a "steady drumbeat" of calls for attacks by foreign terrorist organizations since Hamas massacred more than 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7. Section 702, Wray argued, is an "indispensable" tool to combat terror threats by allowing the government "to stay a step ahead of foreign actors located outside the United States who pose a threat to national security." 

The FBI director pointed to several examples of how the bureau has used Section 702 to help victims of cyber crimes and identify potential targets. 

"In just one recent cyber case, for instance, 702 allowed the FBI to alert more than 300 victims in every state and country around the world," Wray said, adding that those notifications were made possible by the FBI's ability to conduct U.S. person queries in the existing 702 database. 

Wray testified that stripping the FBI of its 702 surveillance powers would be akin to "unilateral disarmament" in the face of growing threats from Iran and China. 

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The FBI used FISA to investigate Americans more than 278,000 times in 2021, including Jan. 6 protesters and George Floyd demonstrators.  (Getty)

However, critics on the right and left claim the program encroaches on Americans’ civil liberties, specifically if the FBI conducts warrantless surveillance on communications between Americans and foreign nationals.

A letter objecting to combining the measures was signed by more than 50 lawmakers on Wednesday, led by Reps. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, along with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.

"A temporary extension would be entirely unnecessary, and it would be an inexcusable violation of the public’s trust to quietly greenlight an authority that has been flagrantly abused," the letter addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said.

"If Section 702 is to be reauthorized for even a single day, it must be through standalone legislation subject to robust, open debate and amendment."

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Wray argued against any attempt by lawmakers to restrict the FBI's surveillance authority, which he compared to the "pre-9/11-style wall" that prevented U.S. intelligence agencies from sharing information that could have prevented the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. 

"If that's the path chosen, what are we going to say to the family whose loved one’s care was sabotaged when a hospital was taken offline by a foreign adversary and the FBI wasn’t able to stop the cyber attack? What’s the justification for not using every lawful tool to stop China from stealing our technology and undermining our freedoms? Because I can assure you the PRC is not holding back or tying its own hands behind its back," he said.

"And what if there were a terrorist attack that we had a shot to prevent, but couldn’t take it, because the FBI was deprived of the ability under 702 to look at key information already sitting in our holdings?" 

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Fox News Digital is told that congressional leaders are considering attaching a temporary extension of FISA to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual defense spending bill. 

Doing so would delay the fight over Section 702 reauthorization until early 2024. 

Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.