Author: Cavan Kharrazian

Call a plumber, we’ve got a leak. You’ve definitely seen by now the stories about the massive leak of classified documents. While a lot of the media is interested in the identity of the alleged leaker and the story behind it, we’re much more interested in what the documents have to say (and why some key information was being held from the public), like the fact that the US spying on the UN secretary general and the Mexican government. One story from the leaks revealed that the Biden admin knew that the Saudis were willing to negotiate on key Houthi demands which the State Department said publicly were non-starters, signaling that US pressure was likely a partial culprit in stalling forward progress on peace.

Another important revelation was the confirmation that the US, and other NATO countries, have special forces operating on the ground in Ukraine…

Rep. LaHood asserts he was the subject of unlawful FBI 702 searches. During a hearing with FBI Director Wray yesterday, Congressman LaHood made a startling assertion that he believes he was the subject of an unlawful backdoor search of 702 information. Section 702 of FISA, the extremely controversial warrantless surveillance authority is set to sunset at the end of the year. WIRED first reported about Demand Progress’s discovery of unlawful searching of FISA information “using only the name of a U.S. Congressman,” using “the names of a local political party,” and based on racial profiling last month. The name of the Congressman was unknown at the time. The revelations came from this recently declassified document. Rep. LaHood sits on one of the committees that oversees the Intelligence agencies and has been designated by Congressional leadership as the Intelligence Committee’s point person in charge of the 702 reauthorization. Privacy advocates are calling on the Biden administration to prioritize a complete overhaul of privacy protection for all Americans — members of Congress and beyond — before considering any reauthorization of this authority. Demand Progress’s statement and Twitter thread can be found here.

SYRIA WAR POWERS RESOLUTION

The number of Republicans voting to remove troops from Syria nearly doubled compared to last year…

Bipartisan stars aligning for defense spending cuts? Potentially, but it will take a lot of maneuvering. Capping government spending to 2022 levels was reportedly part of the concessions McCarthy made to win his speakership race. That would mean a $75 billion cut relative to FY 2023 levels (that relative figure will be even more substantial when FY 2024 baseline projections are released). Of course, it’s been a longstanding tradition for progressives in Congress to advocate for Pentagon cuts… only to get soundly rejected. But given the current circumstances, there may be an opportunity for unlikely alliances to pose a stronger challenge to the yearly hike in defense spending, and possibly cutting it back. Yesterday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary Austin asking for the DOD to curtail its ‘unfunded priorities’ wishlist, which entails billions of dollars of funding requested above the President’s budget proposals (recall that last year Congress approved nearly $45 billion in spending above Biden’s budget). While there are significant hurdles ahead, this is a promising sign. We’ll be tracking this fight closely in the coming months.

Military spending on Ukraine is also a target of scrutiny in the 118th…

One-year anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal. Last week marked a year since the final day US troops left Afghanistan, ending our two-decade occupation. Long deemed a failed operation by US officials (even though they hid the fact from the public), the war cost hundreds of thousands of deaths and trillions of dollars. Laying in the wake are millions of Afghans facing a severe humanitarian crisis. To add insult to injury, the Biden admin continues to withhold $7 billion of Afghanistan’s independent central bank’s reserves, which are crucial to stabilizing the country’s economy. Additionally, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has only approved less than 2% of Afghan applications it processed for a humanitarian parole program.

Unauthorized tit-for-tat war with militias in Syria continues; Biden continues stonewalling Congress over key war powers questions…

You need to know about this: CBP surveilling travel, family of Members, Congressional staff, and journalists. How we know: Yahoo News released this incredible investigation into a rogue CBP unit with apparently no limits or guidelines. Agent Jeffrey Rambo (no joke), with the support of his boss and access to extremely sensitive intelligence databases, effectively tried to blackmail reporter Ali Watkins as part of an out-of-control leak investigation unrelated to the unit’s mission. There’s too much to summarize — this is simply one of those pieces you must read. A bottle of Whistle Pig to whomever spots the parallel construction red flag first.

Not all bad news on the surveillance front, though: “Utility giants agree to no longer allow sensitive records to be shared with ICE,” per WaPo…

CIA leadership reportedly considered kidnapping, poisoning, and assassinating Julian Assange and other members of Wikileaks, reports Yahoo News. This story is immense, and there are many questions that remain, but at least this much is true: when Director Pompeo called Wikileaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service,” and when SSCI snuck it into the Intelligence Authorization Act, it meant a whole lot more than what the public was told. What Congress will do about it is anyone’s question.

The NSA and CIA Use Ad Blockers Because Online Advertising Is So Dangerous

Backdoor Search Fix is back on the floor! After a 5-year hiatus, Reps. Lofgren and Massie (and Jayapal, Davidson, Eshoo, and Spartz) are bringing back their hallmark reform aimed at stopping the use of Section 702 of FISA to warrantlessly search Americans’ communications. A coalition of 28 groups called for support here. The vote could be any minute!

Catholic newsletter used data-for-sale to pin a priest to Grindr. This is not good news…

Just in: Defense Approps requires declassification and release of significant FISA Court opinions, proving surveillance reformers don’t need to reauthorize mass surveillance to get reform (this was part of the package of reforms in the PATRIOT Act reauth from 2020).

A new big red surveillance flag: Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board member Travis LeBlanc made some big waves after joining a chorus of critics that panned as a “colossal disappointment”…

TOP LINE

New ODNI transparency report reveals other reports “highly misleading,” per this helpful deconstruction by POGO’s Jake Laperruque. Read together with a new FISA Court opinion that revealed dozens of previously undisclosed FBI searches of Section 702 foreign intelligence information for criminal information, the results are damning. Lapperruque also wrote about the FISC opinion at Just Security. Reminder: Section 702 is slated to sunset at the end of 2023. Among other things, the FBI has been fishing for information about community leaders and crime victims.

Reps. Biggs and Jordan demanded answers after that same opinion revealed “apparent widespread violations”…

TOP LINE

Just introduced: a bill to stop the government from buying location data, internet activity records, and more from data brokers. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, a new bipartisan bill from dozens of lawmakers, would break the apparently blossoming relationship between intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the likes of Clearview.AI. Relatedly, earlier this year the Defense Intelligence Agency asserted it can buy bulk location data on people in the US.

Last week’s Yemen briefings left critical questions unanswered…