ACLU Letter for the Record on the House Judiciary Committee’s Closed FISA Amendments Act Hearing

This ACLU letter for the record was sent to the House Judiciary Committee on February 1, 2016 in connection with the committee’s closed hearing, “FISA Amendments Act” to address concerns with Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The letter expressed our disappointment that a hearing on such an important topic is being held in a closed setting, and urged the committee to promptly schedule subsequent public hearings on this issue. In order to shed more light on Section 702 surveillance practices and facilitate reform efforts, the letter also urged the committee to, among others, address the following issues during the hearing: 1) Collection and Searching of American Communications; 2) Notice and Use of Information in Criminal and Legal Proceedings; 3) Upstream Collection; 4) Permissible Purposes; and 5) Retention and Dissemination of Information.