Assistant Secretary of State Calls FISA Abuses ‘Disturbing’ but Says Program Should Continue

Assistant Secretary of State Brett Holmgren said on May 30 that abuses of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) are “disturbing,” but he said the program should continue.
Holmgren, who oversees the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), emphasized the national security and diplomatic uses of 702, downplaying abuses.
“Today INR and the State Department that we serve, is at risk of losing access to one of the most important streams of intelligence on which we rely … Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” Holmgren said.
FISA Section 702 is a provision in U.S. law that allows for intelligence gathering on foreign agents operating outside the U.S. However, a litany of violations has left the fate of the program—which is set to expire on Dec. 31 if Congress doesn’t reauthorize it—uncertain….}