Washington, D.C. – Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-16), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and Chair of the HPSCI Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 Working Group, released the following statement after Special Counsel John Durham testified before HPSCI during a closed door session:
"Our HPSCI hearing with Special Counsel John Durham was an important opportunity to continue the necessary conversation about the reauthorization of Section 702 this year and reforming the FBI, FISA, and Section 702. FISA and Section 702 provide the IC with an important national security tool to protect Americans, but there have been far too many abuses of civil liberties.
"As a former state and federal prosecutor, I remain concerned about the disregard FBI personnel have shown for critical protections established to safeguard the American people from unlawful surveillance, which Special Counsel Durham describes in his report. The actions taken by FBI personnel that Durham outlines should have never happened and Congress has a responsibility to prevent them from occurring in the future.
"There is a clear, bipartisan consensus in Congress that a clean reauthorization of Section 702, without serious reforms to prevent future abuses, is a non-starter. Today's hearing with Special Counsel Durham underscored the essential work Congress and our HPSCI Section 702 Working Group must do to codify clear guardrails that prevent future FBI abuses and help restore the public’s trust in our law enforcement institutions."
