Sponsors
The bill strengthens privacy, judicial oversight, and provider transparency by curtailing existing surveillance authorities and limiting use of foreign-derived intelligence against U.S. persons, but it does so at the expense of reducing intelligence and law‑enforcement access to signals, creating legal and operational gaps, and raising costs and prosecutorial burdens.
All U.S. citizens: The bill sharply strengthens privacy and procedural protections by requiring federal-court warrants for electronic surveillance of citizens and by barring use of intelligence gathered under EO 12333 or from noncitizen surveillance against citizens.
Federal oversight and accountability: The bill moves foreign-intelligence collection of U.S. persons under ordinary federal-court procedures, increasing judicial oversight and accountability for surveillance decisions.
Transparency and reduced secret orders: Eliminating FISA-based authorities reduces reliance on secret FISC orders and gag orders for communications providers, potentially increasing public transparency and reducing burdens on tech companies.
Law enforcement and national security personnel: The bill risks significantly reducing agencies' ability to detect and disrupt terrorism, espionage, and cross-border threats by removing or restricting longstanding electronic surveillance authorities.
Providers, agencies, and the public: Eliminating FISA and tightening authorities without clear replacement authorities could create legal and operational gaps, increasing litigation, uncertainty, and interruptions to ongoing intelligence activities.
Prosecutors and public safety officials: Excluding evidence derived from EO 12333 or noncitizen surveillance from use against U.S. persons could remove leads and admissible proof, hampering investigations and prosecutions and potentially delaying or preventing crime-solving.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Repeals FISA, requires criminal warrants for surveillance of U.S. citizens, bans use of intelligence‑gathered info about U.S. citizens in proceedings, and creates criminal penalties for violations.
Repeals the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and replaces its statutory framework by requiring a federal criminal warrant before U.S. officers may conduct electronic surveillance, physical searches, pen‑register/trap‑and‑trace installs, obtain records, or target someone for foreign intelligence when the target is a U.S. citizen. It bars using information about U.S. citizens gathered under Executive Order 12333 or gathered about a U.S. citizen while surveilling a non‑U.S. citizen as evidence or as part of criminal, civil, or administrative investigations or proceedings. The bill defines key terms (including ‘‘electronic surveillance,’’ ‘‘foreign intelligence information,’’ and ‘‘wire communication’’), creates criminal penalties (fine and at least five years imprisonment) for unauthorized surveillance or misuse/disclosure of unlawfully obtained information, and provides an affirmative defense for actions taken under a valid search warrant or court order.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Andrew S. Biggs · Last progress January 3, 2025