ACLU, Brennan, Indivisible, Demand Progress & More Ask Congress for Privacy Reforms to Prevent FISA Abuse
Washington, D.C. — On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Jay Clayton as Director of National Intelligence. As DNI, Clayton would be responsible for handling sensitive information on Americans gathered through Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Previously, Clayton signed off on extraordinary subpoenas of New York Times journalists in retaliation for reporting information President Donald Trump didn’t like. He was also assigned to carry out Trump’s directive to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Democrats and repeatedly refused to say whether Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
Demand Progress and a coalition of civil society groups including ACLU, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and Indivisible also sent a letter asking congressional leaders to enact meaningful privacy reforms like warrant requirements for FISA in light of Clayton’s nomination.
The following is a statement from Demand Progress Senior Policy Advisor Hajar Hammado:
“As a U.S. attorney, Jay Clayton repeatedly weaponized the government against Trump’s political enemies and there’s no reason to believe he won’t do the same thing as DNI. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence will handle millions of Americans’ emails, call records and location data swept up without a warrant from FISA searches. The only way to stop FISA abuse from Clayton, or any Trump crony that he installs as DNI, is for Congress to enact structural privacy reforms like warrant requirements. As Congress starts to debate FISA, we call on members in both parties to join the overwhelming majority of Americans who support adding these basic privacy safeguards.”