Press Releases

Washington, DC—April 12, 2024…Today, Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) voted for H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America (RISA) Act, which extends Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for two years from the date of enactment and reforms provisions to FISA to allow for greater oversight and transparency for the American people.

Congressman Womack said, “FISA Section 702’s sole focus is to gather intelligence on foreign adversaries who intend to hurt Americans. Foiling terror plots, mitigating cyberattacks, and stopping weapons of mass destruction from reaching bad actors are what we use it for. Without our extension today, American lives will be at grave risk. On top of renewing this critical provision, we approved the largest reform to the broader FISA and the FBI in a generation—with over 50 reforms to ensure there’s less potential for abuse. Our duty is to protect Americans from terrorists, and this bill is absolutely necessary to advance that mission.”

The RISA Act:

Reforms 702 querying procedures at the FBI.

• Reduces FBI personnel authorized to approve U.S. person queries by 90%.
• Prohibits the involvement of political appointees in the approval process.
• Mandates audits of 100% of U.S. person queries conducted by the FBI.
• Requires FBI to document all U.S. person queries, requires a higher level of approval for sensitive queries, and requires FBI to establish standardized procedures.

Limits the use of information obtained under 702.

• Revokes the FBI’s authority to conduct queries unrelated to national security and prohibits queries that are solely designed to find and extract evidence of a crime, subject to reasonable exceptions.
• Prohibits the Federal Bureau of Investigation from storing unminimized Section 702 information in its databases unless the information pertains to a foreign target who is relevant to an existing national security investigation.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) reform.

• Requires the same FISC judge to hear FISA renewal applications targeting a United States person unless that judge is no longer serving on the FISC.
• Requires the FISC to appoint one or more amicus curiae in the annual Section 702 judicial review process, unless the court issues a finding that such appointment is not appropriate.
• Requires a FISC judge to designate an attorney to scrutinize an application for a probable cause order to target a United States person under FISA, to provide to the judge an analysis of the sufficiency of the evidence and any weaknesses or flaws in the application.

Reforms to contents of applications for FISA orders.

• Prohibits the use of opposition research and news media reports in FISA applications unless that information is disclosed in the application and provided that it is not the sole source of the information.

Requires audits of targeting decisions under 702.

Requires audit reports by DOJ IG of compliance with the reforms of this Act.

Requires FBI to hold executive leaders accountable for FISA noncompliance and report to Congress on disciplinary actions.

Imposes new criminal penalties for FISA violations.

Increases civil damages for a U.S. person harmed by unlawful surveillance from $1,000 to $10,000.

Adds accountability measures for FBI employees that violate FISA compliance rules.

Extends Title VII (which includes Section 702) of FISA for 2 years from date of enactment.

Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) has represented Arkansas’ Third Congressional District since 2011. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.