The investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and leaks about the probe from sources inside the FBI illustrate the need to rein in federal investigative power, a Senate Democrat said Thursday.
“The continued leadership failures at the FBI are another reminder we can’t let intelligence agencies say ‘trust us’ and then give them a blank check to probe into Americans’ lives,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said.
“While I’ve argued for years that Congress must create ironclad protections for Americans’ security and privacy, we also need vigilant oversight of agencies that have the power to deprive citizens of their liberty or change the course of an election,” Wyden said.
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“It is clear the FBI would benefit from a strong, independent inspector general, and that moves to weaken independent watchdogs like the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board only embolden leaders at FBI and elsewhere who believe the rules don’t apply to them,” he added.
The board Wyden referred to is responsible for overseeing federal agencies including the Department of Justice, FBI and CIA, but has become most known for holding an adversarial relationship with the the National Security Agency. The board said in 2014 that the NSA “lacks a viable legal foundation” for surveillance programs exposed by former contractor Edward Snowden.
Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is a leading proponent of rolling back federal surveillance authorities. It was his 2013 line of questioning that led to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s improper statement that the feds did not “wittingly” collect telephone records.
