House to Hold Rare Secret Session

The House is preparing for a rare secret session in what some reports originally indicated was to debate the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) beyond the prying eyes of the press and public, but now Speaker Mike Johnson’s office is dispelling those rumors.

Johnson’s spokesman Raj Shah told Breitbart News after the publication of this article that the upcoming Intelligence Committee push for a secret session of Congress has nothing to do with reauthorizing FISA and there are no plans for any executive or secret session to deal with FISA.

The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence posted a closed Tuesday night meeting, titled “To Consider a Motion to Call Information to the Attention of the House,” likely a procedural step for the select committee to formally request the House enter a “closed” session later in the week.

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House Committee on the Judiciary / YouTube

Originally, some in media including Politico’s Jordain Carney reported that this had to do with pushing to reauthorize FISA. But, now Shah, Johnson’s spokesperson, says that is not on the agenda for the secret session. As for what is on the agenda, well, that’s a secret–and Johnson’s spokesperson would not say because it is classified. But he insists FISA is not part of it at all.

The controversial Section 702 of FISA, which allows intelligence services to conduct surveillance activities on foreigners but has been subject to charges of widespread abuse, including spying on Americans, contributed to the House’s inability to reauthorize the law by the end of last year.

The episode was a black eye for Johnson, who juggled two competing reauthorizations. Eventually it was extended by attachment to the unrelated National Defense Authorization Act, but Congress must act again by April.

The notion of there possibly being a secret session to reauthorize an unpopular program accused of spying on Americans has rankled many across the ideological spectrum, including privacy advocates. The House Freedom Caucus is set to hold a press conference Tuesday afternoon in advance of the select committee’s meeting.

Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution authorizes the House and Senate to hold secret proceedings. But the House has only entered into a secret session four times since 1830, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a non-partisan think tank for Congress providing policy and legal analysis.

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C-SPAN

Those sessions are to be “held for matters deemed to require confidentiality and secrecy — such as national security, sensitive communications received from the President, and Senate deliberations during impeachment trials.”

According to CRS, the House often met secretly through the end of the War of 1812, mainly to receive confidential communications from the president.

But since 1830, the House has only entered a secret session in 1979 to discuss implementation of the Panama Canal Act, in 1980 regarding Cuban and other Communist-bloc countries’ involvement in Nicaragua, in 1983 regarding U.S. support for paramilitary operations in Nicaragua, and in 2008 when FISA was amended to authorize additional electronic surveillance that has come under scrutiny.

Notably, the House did not enter into a secret session during either world war, after Pearl Harbor or September 11th, or during the entirety of Korean or Vietnam Wars.

The House Rules Committee will meet Wednesday afternoon to set the parameters for the secret session.

Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece has been updated with on-record statements from Speaker Johnson’s office.