The number of foreign nationals spied on by the U.S. through its warrantless surveillance program reached an all-time high last year, according to government statistics released Friday, even as the number of Americans swept up in such searches declined dramatically.
The report, required annually, comes as Congress weighs reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), set to expire this December.
Section 702 allows for the warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals outside the United States, even as they communicate with U.S. citizens on domestic soil. It’s a feature that many fear allows intelligence agencies to keep tabs on U.S. citizens without securing a warrant.
The FBI spied on more than 246,000 foreign nationals using the tool, a jump from roughly 232,000 the year before, about a 6 percent increase.
The number of Americans impacted by those searches plummeted, from 2.9 million last year to 119,000 this year.
The FBI attributes the decline to a shift in its practices, including requiring agents to “opt in” to searching the 702 database and requiring attorney approval when running a batch of more than 100 queries.
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