When President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act in 2001, it lowered the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s standards for surveillance in order to monitor terrorists in the wake of 9/11. In 2002, Bush issued a secret presidential order that gave the National Security Agency unprecedented warrantless wiretapping powers. Though the Bush administration claimed it was doing so to protect citizens domestically, the exact legal parameters of this rapidly growing surveillance apparatus became fuzzier with each passing year.
When Barack Obama campaigned for president in 2007, he said that the Bush administration put “forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorist without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.”
Later, Obama would significantly expand his predecessor’s surveillance powers, violating the Constitution. Despite this practice being exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013, Obama again expanded the government’s spying powers on his way out the White House door.
To date, President Trump has shown little interest in reasserting Fourth Amendment privacy rights by curtailing the ever-growing surveillance state. In fact, he has mostly seemed content to maintain the status quo. At least, until now, perhaps.
When Attorney General William Barr pushed Tuesday for Republicans to support a clean extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act with no questions asked, according to Barr, the president was fully on board. However, according to Sen. Rand Paul, Trump wasn’t behind this plan. The Kentucky Republican said that in his conversation with the president, Trump emphasized that spying on citizens should be “forbidden” and that we need serious FISA reform.
“Spoke with @realDonaldTrump,” Paul tweeted on Thursday. “He agrees that the secret FISA court (intended to be used on foreign spies) should be forbidden from ever spying on or investigating Americans, and that Congress should act NOW to make sure of that!”
Spoke with @realDonaldTrump . He agrees that the secret FISA court (intended to be used on foreign spies) should be forbidden from ever spying on or investigating Americans, and that Congress should act NOW to make sure of that!
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 27, 2020
Some of Trump’s reported concern over privacy rights likely stems from the surveillance of his 2016 presidential campaign. When Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted that “Comey’s FBI misled the FISA Court 17 times” and urged fixing FISA, Trump shared the Ohio Republican’s tweet and added, “They spied on my campaign!”
They spied on my campaign! https://t.co/LpIc3cNBnr
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2020
Paul said Trump supports his proposal to include substantial reforms to the surveillance court in exchange for extending these expiring intelligence programs.
“FISA warrants should not be issued against Americans,” Paul said Thursday. “Americans shouldn’t be spied on by a secret court. I think (Trump) agrees completely with that, and that’s the amendment that I’m going to insist on.”
A spokesperson for Sen. Mike Lee, a longtime ally of Paul on civil liberties and privacy rights issues, said Thursday that the Utah Republican had also been in contact with Trump and was getting the same “positive” signs.
“Sen. Lee has had multiple positive phone calls with President Trump on this,” the aide said.
How much the president actually urges Congress to pass real reform remains to be seen. A cynic might also say the only reason Trump cares about these protections is due to James Comey’s FBI being found guilty of 17 “significant errors or omissions” when spying on Trump’s 2016 campaign.
But one could also point out Obama never restored the civil liberties he promised to protect. Even worse, Bush was given free license to trample the privacy rights of a nation still in shock after 9/11 and chose to do so quite aggressively.
There’s plenty of cynicism to go around when it comes to surveillance wrongdoing and recent presidents. But it’s more important that the president do the right thing now. Trump should push Congress to protect the public’s constitutional right to privacy, for any reason. If the president succeeds, his reasoning will matter less than the results.
Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.
