FISA Section 215: A Debate about Its Legality, Usefulness and Civil Liberties

On June 1, 2015, Section 215 and two other critical authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expire, unless Congress reauthorizes them. Section 215 of FISA, the provision under which the bulk telephony metadata program is authorized, first came to national attention after former government contractor Edward Snowden illegally disclosed hundreds of thousands of highly classified documents from the government and gave some to The Washington Post and The Guardian newspapers. Those leaks resulted in a national and international debate about the legality of the telephone metadata program and privacy. Caught flatfooted by the Snowden leaks, the Obama Administration declassified lots of surveillance information under the FISA, scaled back collection, adopted some interim reforms, and sought the recommendations of two outside groups, the President’s Review Group and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB). The House and Senate have debated and voted on 215 reform bills, but none became law.