October 04, 2016

Wyden Statement on New Reports about Government Searches of Americans’ Emails

WASHINGTON - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on new reports about government searches of Americans' emails:

"It is a fact that collection under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has a significant impact on Americans’ privacy. It is public record that this expansive surveillance program is the basis for warrantless searches of Americans’ emails, and that the government has never even counted how many. The FISA court has publically stated that tens of thousands of wholly domestic communications are caught up under 702 collection every year and that the potential number of Americans impacted is even larger than that.

The NSA has said that it only targets individuals under Section 702 by searching for email addresses and similar identifiers. If that has changed, the executive branch has an obligation to notify the public."