NSA Director Urges Congress To Renew Controversial Intelligence Authority

NSA Director and head of U.S. Cyber Command Gen. Paul Nakasone said in remarks on Thursday that intelligence authorities up for renewal later this year have played a key role in protecting the United States against cyberattacks. From a report: Nakasone's remarks at a virtual meeting of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board offered a preview of what is expected to be an intense political fight later this year to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- a law that provides U.S. intelligence agencies wide-ranging authorities to conduct surveillance of foreign persons located abroad and which civil liberties advocates argue is in desperate need of greater transparency. Section 702 will expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts, and on Thursday Nakasone made the case that "the authority plays an outsized role in protecting our nation." He said, "we have saved lives because of 702," adding that the law has been used to counter ransomware threats, including those against critical infrastructure and a foreign operation trying to steal sensitive U.S. military information. The political fight over reauthorization has yet to heat up, but as the newly elected Republican majority seeks to investigate federal government probes of former President Donald Trump and his associates, the renewal of Section 702 could emerge as a central flashpoint between the GOP and national-security agencies.

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