The 702 program is slated to expire on January 1, 2024.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate are rushing to find a solution that would enable the program to continue despite growing mistrust from lawmakers and the public following years of unauthorized use.
Abuses of 702 data have included the targeting of racial justice protesters, political activists, and immigrants.
Other misused searches of the database for information related to a sitting US congressperson, a US senator, and members of a local political party.
US intelligence community leaders say permitting the program to expire would significantly diminish the government's ability to monitor and disrupt overseas threats, from terrorism and cyberattacks targeting US infrastructure to espionage and the black market sale of nuclear weapons.
The wealth of data collected under the 702 program is imponderable.
US intelligence agencies have repeatedly claimed there are no means by which to calculate how often Americans are wiretapped without violating procedures intended to keep the program constitutional.
Civil rights experts argue that expanding the program to include routine vetting of people entering the United States would almost certainly be an encumbrance on immigration and asylum systems that US politicians readily acknowledge are broken.
There are currently more than 2 million cases pending in US immigration courts, with the average case taking more than four years to adjudicate.
The vetting proposal, now formally endorsed by both intelligence committees in Congress, has ignited a firestorm among immigrants' rights groups and nonprofits combating racism against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
The groups say that, due to their international ties, immigrants naturally face an increased risk of having their communications swept up by the 702 program.
This Cyber News was published on www.wired.com. Publication date: Mon, 04 Dec 2023 15:43:05 +0000