Toward a Goldilocks Deal on 702 Surveillance Reform

The surveillance authorities contained in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are set to expire on December 31, 2023, unless Congress acts to renew them. Long regarded by the U.S. government as an indispensable national security tool necessary for averting threats posed by foreign terrorists and other external actors, the law has also long been criticized by rights advocates as unduly infringing on the privacy rights of Americans, among other concerns. As the sunset of Section 702 fast approaches, unlikely political alliances have emerged on Capitol Hill, and the Biden administration has continued its appeals for reauthorization.

In this virtual discussion, a panel of leading experts with diverse perspectives examined the current state of play with respect to proposed legislation and the prospects for reauthorization; areas of likely or imaginable compromise; how U.S. national security and individual privacy could be impacted by various proposals; and what might lie ahead for the future of 702.

This event is co-hosted by the Reiss Center on Law and Security and Just Security.

• David Aaron (Co-Moderator), Senior Counsel, Perkins Coie LLP; Visiting Professor, Wesleyan University; former DOJ counterespionage prosecutor and FISA oversight attorney
• Tess Bridgeman (Co-Moderator), Co-Editor-in-Chief, Just Security; Senior Fellow & Visiting Scholar, Reiss Center on Law and Security
• Elizabeth Goitein, Senior Director, Liberty & National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice
• Andrew McCabe, Former Acting Director and Deputy Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Mary McCord, Executive Director, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Georgetown University Law Center

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