Strauss Center Director Adam Klein was interviewed for The Christian Science Monitor on “Why the surveillance powers in FISA roil Congress – across party lines,” which discusses the national security and privacy issues surrounding Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire at the end of April.

“Imagine that, today, an FBI agent is checking out a tip that a person inside the United States is expressing support for ISIS [Islamic State], asking questions about martyrdom, and posting online about buying weapons. That’s enough to talk to community members about the person and check FBI databases, but you can’t get a warrant at that stage,” Klein said. “If the government had already collected messages between that person and an ISIS terrorist overseas, that’s extremely alarming. We’d want the agent to know that, right away. But requiring a warrant at that stage would mean that the agent couldn’t check those records – records the government already has. You’d never know the information was there.”