Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, told reporters Wednesday that the Biden administration does not believe a warrant requirement for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) being used to spy on Americans is the “best way” to ensure the “personal privacy” of American citizens.
According to The Hill, the House Freedom Caucus has pushed for an amendment to the upcoming FISA bill that is expected to extend the FISA program.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) told reporters Tuesday that lawmakers need to “make sure our government can’t keep spying on us citizens without a warrant.” The chairman warned that government bureaucrats have “abused” FISA, which was initially intended to be a surveillance program for national security threats, and have used the program to “spy on American citizens.”
Asked if the president would potentially veto the bill if it included warrant requirements for the FISA program, Sullivan claimed he was “not in a position” to “make veto threats” on behalf of Biden. Sullivan added that the decision to veto a potential bill was a decision only Biden could make.
“What I will tell you is that we do not believe that that serves the national security interests of the United States,” Sullivan said. “And in fact, today I will be making that case to a number of members, that the warrant requirement, as conceived, is not the best way, actually, to ensure the protection of the personal privacy of Americans.”
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Sullivan added that while the Biden administration has shown support for multiple other aspects of the updated FISA bill, the administration believes a warrant requirement would “go too far in undermining the very purpose of FISA.” Sullivan also claimed that a warrant requirement could result in increased risks for potential victims.
On Wednesday, Simon Ateba, chief White House Correspondent at Today News Africa, shared a video of Sullivan’s statements on X, formerly Twitter.
“In case you missed this today, President Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, argued that it’s not in the American people’s national security interest to require a warrant for surveillance,” Ateba tweeted. “He’s rejecting a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) amendment that mandates a warrant for spying on Americans. He said it is not in the interest of the American people not to be spied on without a court warrant.”
