Senate Democrat Intel Chair Mark Warner Tacitly Admits Need to Fix Recent Spy Powers Reauthorization Bill

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) on Monday tacitly admitted that there are concerns that need to be fixed about a controversial aspect of a recent spy powers reauthorization bill.

Warner spoke at the 2024 RSA Conference, a conference for the cybersecurity community. Warner said that lawmakers are “in process” of finding a fix for an update of the definition of “electronic service communication provider” in the Restoring Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Section 702 is a spy powers authorization that is meant to target foreign adversaries; however, Section 702 often surveils Americans without a warrant.

One provision in RISAA, which is now law, updates the definition electronic service communication provider to include “any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications.”

Although the Justice Department said that the provision would be narrowly applied, Warner offered to address the issue later this year, when the Senate Intelligence Committee would draft its annual intelligence authorization bill. He then reiterated this vow during a roundtable discussion with reporters.

“We are working on it. I am absolutely committed to getting that fixed,” he said.

The Virginia Democrat then added that the way the House amendment was drafted “raised a whole host of questions” about electronic service providers.

“The idea that you draw it so broad, and then try to exclude things, well, you’re never going to be able to figure out all the possible exceptions,” Warner added. He also said that this “needs to stay a narrow definition.”

Warner’s comments affirm privacy advocates’ concerns about the provision, which was drafted by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) and committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT).

This provision has been referred to by privacy advocates as a “trojan horse” for “PATRIOT Act 2.0.” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has called this provision as an “FBI power grab.”

Steve Bradbury, a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explained to Breitbart News how this amendment is so vast in scope that experts such as he may not know how many companies would have to comply with the Himes-Turner amendment. He said to:

… think about third party contractors who may have access to equipment? What about, for example, a janitorial company, who has a key to a data center and comes in and cleans up the data center floor or something? Technically, they have access to the equipment. Could the NSA [National Security Agency] hit the janitorial company with an order requiring them to give the NSA access to that data center? So, the implications of it are troubling. And the full scope is unknowable at this point.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) referred to this provision as “one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.”