President Trump has called for an 18-month extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance ACT (FISA) with reforms to guard the privacy of American citizens.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, President Trump said he supported congressional leaders’ efforts to pass the extension with reforms included at the time of its prior reauthorization. He indicated the previous reforms would allow the legislation to accomplish its national security objectives while also protecting Americans from potential abuses.
“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have been working to pass a clean extension of FISA Section 702, a Law that was passed many years ago by Congress to collect Intelligence on Foreigners and Noncitizens. When used properly, FISA is an effective tool to keep Americans safe,” President Trump said. “For these reasons, I have called for a clean 18-month extension, HOWEVER, the Critical and Common Sense Reforms that were made in the last Reauthorization of FISA must remain intact to protect the American People from abuses.”
As Congress currently faces a deadline to extend Section 702 before it expires, some conservative lawmakers have called for enhanced reforms and increased privacy protections. President Trump noted the nature of his personal experience with FISA and pointed out how it has been used to spy on his 2016 election campaign. He emphasized that his administration had taken the potential for abuse of the law seriously and sought to rigorously enforce reforms to protect American citizens.
“Nobody understands this better than me, as I was a victim of the worst and most illegal abuse of FISA in our Nation’s History, by Radical Left Lunatics who lied to the FISA Court to spy on my 2016 Presidential Campaign in their attempt to RIG the Election in favor of Crooked Hillary Clinton,” President Trump said. “That is why, since the first day of my already Historic Second Term, my Administration has worked tirelessly to ensure these Reforms are being aggressively executed at every level of the Executive Branch to keep Americans safe, while protecting their sacred Civil Liberties guaranteed by our Great Constitution.”
The president concluded his statement by pointing out the necessity of the program in ensuring the safety of American diplomats and military members during the ongoing conflict with Iran.
“With the ongoing successful Military activities against the Terrorist Iranian Regime, it is more important than ever that we remain vigilant, PROTECT our Homeland, Troops, and Diplomats stationed abroad, and maintain our ability to quickly stop bad actors seeking to cause harm to our People and our Country.” President Trump said. “The fact is, whether you like FISA or not, it is extremely important to our Military. I have spoken to many Generals about this, and they consider it vital. Not one said, even tacitly, that they can do without it — especially right now with our brilliant Military Operation in Iran.”