Secure Liberties Newsletter

TOP LINE

As Congress threatens to pass a War Powers Resolution, the truce in Yemen is extended for 2 more months. The UN announced that the warring parties in Yemen have agreed to extend the current truce for two more months, which was originally set to expire yesterday. However, thorny issues still remain unresolved, leading to a shorter truce with weaker terms than expected. This comes as 113 representatives and 8 Senators have cosponsored the Yemen War Powers Resolutions (H.J.Res.87 and S.J.Res.56, respectively), which would end US support for Saudi-UAE-led coalitions’ offensive operations in Yemen.

NDAA

Last month, the House passed a $839 billion National Defense Authorization Act. This is $37 billion over what Biden asked for, to the chagrin of military contractors and their allies in Congress, and despite efforts to reduce the topline figure. The Senate has released its version as well.

Here are a few approved provisions that stand out to us:

  • An amendment by Rep. Garcia (IL) and Rep. Omar which would require a GAO report on the humanitarian impacts and efficacy of broad-based US sanctions regimes around the world.

  • An amendment by Reps. Jacobs and Davidson which would provide Congress and the public with only the information necessary to assess the profound privacy consequences of the Department of Defense buying its way around the Fourth Amendment. Specifically, it requires the Department of Defense to disclose whether subcomponents are purchasing smartphone location and internet activity records about people in the United States.

  • An amendment by Reps. Khanna, Jacobs, Malinowski, and Crow to fund an R&D center to independently report on DoD practices in distinguishing between combatants and civilians in US military operations.

  • An amendment by Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Jayapal requiring the Department of State to submit a report documenting US knowledge and intel regarding Colombian malign military activity in its decades long civil war.

  • An amendment by Reps. Jacobs, Malinowski, Castro, Titus, Cicilline, Phillips, Levin, and Crow that would require Leahy Law human rights vetting for security cooperation programs involved special operations that combat terrorism.

FOURTH AMENDMENT

Recent revelations re: government agencies circumventing the Fourth Amendment through the purchase of information from data brokers were the subject of a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing. As Elizabeth Goitein, senior director at the Brennan Center for Justice put it in her testimony, “the government is exploiting the resulting legal loopholes to obtain Americans’ most sensitive information without a warrant, subpoena, or any legal process whatsoever.”

Testimony from former Congressman and HJC Chairman Bob Goodlatte highlighted the ACLU’s release of “thousands of pages of data showing that Department of Homeland Security agencies are paying millions of dollars to data brokers, one of which claims to collect more than 15 billion… location points from over 250 million… mobile devices every day.” As mentioned by Goodlatte, government purchase of information from a Muslim dating app and a Muslim prayer app were possible via this loophole.

With the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, there are widespread concerns about the government continuing to circumvent the right to privacy by purchasing bulk information from data brokers. Goodlatte, Goitein, and many civil society groups support the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act—introduced by Nadler and Wyden in 2021—as a means to close loopholes that are being exploited by the government to engage in data purchases.

BOTTOM LINE
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