Tester and Daines Vote to Protect Montanans’ Privacy Rights and Stop Biden Administration from Warrantless Searches
Senators refuse to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) because it lacked measures to protect Montanans’ privacy
By Denise Rivette
Video of Tester’s statement
As part of their longstanding efforts to protect Montanans’ personal privacy rights, U.S. Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines voted to stop the Biden Administration from accessing Americans’ personal information without a warrant by opposing the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
“Freedom and privacy are bedrock Montana values that I will always fight to protect,” said Tester. “That’s why I voted today to stop the Biden Administration from intruding on Montanans’ personal lives through warrantless government searches. Our intelligence community must be able to effectively counter America’s foreign adversaries like China, but we should slam shut backdoor loopholes that allow the government to sweep up and search Montanans’ private communications in the process. My message to the Biden Administration is simple: get a warrant.”
Daines concurred, “While there’s no question that the United States should collect intelligence on suspected terrorists who are overseas and may be communicating with individuals in our country, the federal government should not be using foreign intelligence powers to collect Americans’ personal data. Yet time after time we have seen FISA abused and Americans’ information unacceptably accessed without a warrant.”
“I voted against reauthorizing Section 702 because it failed to fully protect Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights. With additional reforms we could have protected the privacy of Americans and our national security, but this bill fell short of meeting these requirements.”
Voting yesterday on the Senate floor, both Daines and Tester backed amendments that would have significantly improved the bill and protected personal privacy rights, including:
An amendment to require the FBI to obtain a warrant to see the results and contents of Americans’ communications in data collected under Section 702;
An amendment to include the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act, which prevents the government from buying Americans’ information from third parties without a warrant; and
An amendment to strengthen oversight and the role of independent third parties in the FISA Court.
Unfortunately, these bipartisan and commonsense amendments supported by Tester and Daines were not approved by the Senate. Because these changes were not adopted in the final bill, both Montana senators opposed the bill as proposed.
Both Tester and Daines are consistent and staunch supporters of Montanans’ right to privacy. They have continually condemned the use of mass and warrantless government surveillance, and are only two of a handful of Senators that voted against reauthorizing FISA Section 702 when it previously came before the Senate in 2017. Tester also previously voted against efforts to extend FISA provisions and the government’s ability to spy on law-abiding Americans in 2008 and 2012 (before Daines was elected).