Secure Liberties Newsletter

Cavan Kharrazian on March 10, 2023

TOP LINE

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. On Wednesday, the House voted on H.Con.Res.21 – a fairly straightforward War Powers Resolution introduced by Rep. Gaetz directing the president to remove all unauthorized U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days (with Congress fully retaining the ability to proactively authorize the continuation of the mission). The bill failed to pass by 103-321. However, despite the quick turnaround and partisan approach of the bill, 56 Democrats stuck to their guns (sorry for the militaristic expression) and still voted in favor. More notable is the fact that 47 Republicans voted for it, which is nearly double the amount that voted last year on a similar policy in an NDAA amendment led by Rep. Bowman (130 Dems voted for that one). The Intercept reported the evening before the vote that the Congressional Progressive Caucus and former Obama ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, sent a recommendation to vote in favor of the bill.

BIDEN’S BUDGET

Are we headed for a trillion dollar military budget? It’s possible. Yesterday the Biden administration released its FY 2024 budget proposal, which contained $886 billion for military and military-related spending (this includes new, expansive nuclear weapon work at the Department of Energy). This is a 9% increase from last year’s budget. According to the National Priorities Project, a quarter of all discretionary spending will be going to Pentagon contractors. Given that Congress has been more than willing to add on military spending above the President’s request, and with the possibility of further Ukraine aid (which was over $113 billion last year), we’ll most likely reach, or get close to, the big T. Two weeks ago, Reps. Lee and Pocan reintroduced their People Over Pentagon bill, which calls to cut $100 billion off the military budget behemoth. It remains to be seen, however, whether progressives and conservatives who are taking aim at military spending will be able to team up to pose a real challenge to The Behemoth. Check out the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center’s explainer on the budget, and Bill Hartung’s piece in Responsible Statecraft.

A POPPY SEED!

And ICYMI: poppy seed muffins are out! The Department of Defense issued a warning to military services regarding poppy seed consumption and military drug testing. Read the memo here.

RECOMMENDED READING

  • A report exploring how shortcomings in the accountability practices of US security institutions, from domestic law enforcement to military operations abroad, can both enable harm and undercut the credibility of democratic governance by Center for Civilians in Conflict in partnership with the Stimson Center.

  • A press release following the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to the National Security Agency’s “Upstream” surveillance program from the ACLU.

  • An explainer breaking down the support and aid the U.S. has provided to Ukraine since the war began last February by the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center.

  • An exclusive revealing that DHS has a secret domestic intelligence program that gathers intelligence through questioning people in the United States, with many DHS employees raising concerns about the legality of the work, according to a tranche of internal documents reviewed by POLITICO.

Interested in seeing this newsletter grow? Be sure to invite your colleagues to sign up!