Lee, Leahy Demand Answers From DOJ, DNI About FISA Surveillance

The U.S. and Congress have a right to know if the administration is spying on people without “express congressional approval” and with weakened surveillance authorities, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote Attorney General William Barr and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe Tuesday. They requested information about how the administration has halted “mass surveillance programs authorized by now-expired Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) provisions under the USA FREEDOM Act” (see 2005270051). “Any surveillance conducted in the absence of statutory authorities and congressional oversight would be extraordinarily concerning and illegal,” they wrote. DOJ didn’t comment.