Washington, D.C. – Testifying before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Brett Tolman, Executive Director of Right On Crime and former U.S. Attorney, called for sweeping reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to protect Americans from unlawful government surveillance.
“FISA is in desperate need of reforms—or rather, our country desperately needs to reform FISA,” Tolman testified. “For decades, and with increasing regularity, it has been the government’s permission slip for warrantless spying on Americans.”
Tolman emphasized that abuses of FISA—especially Section 702—are not hypothetical, citing repeated improper searches of Americans confirmed by the FISA Court and federal watchdogs. He pointed to examples including the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the Arctic Frost investigation, and thousands of warrantless searches involving journalists, lawmakers, political donors, and civil rights protestors.
“This is not national security intelligence gathering; it is domestic spying,” Tolman stated.
With Section 702 set for reauthorization in April, Tolman urged Congress to enact meaningful statutory reforms. His recommendations include requiring a probable-cause warrant before accessing any U.S. person’s data, closing the data-broker loophole, strengthening judicial oversight under Sections 704 and 705(b), and implementing structural reforms within the FISA Court.
“Congress must not be complicit in facilitating a surveillance state,” Tolman said. “Reforms must be conservative in principle, effective in practice, and constitutional in design.”
Right On Crime is a national campaign of the Texas Public Policy Foundation supporting conservative solutions for fewer victims, less crime, and safer communities. For more information, visit RightOnCrime.com.
For more information or to request an interview, contact Britt Allen ([email protected])