More than 1 million secret searches of Americans conducted by the FBI were made erroneously, a watchdog testified to Congress on April 27.
About 30 percent of the approximately 3.4 million searches were done in error, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified.
“It’s obviously very concerning that there’s that volume of searches,” Horowitz told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee, noting that he was particularly concerned with the high error rate.
The searches in question were conducted by FBI personnel with authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The law enables U.S. authorities to gather information on U.S. citizens suspected of being involved with possible spies or terrorists.
Some 3.39 million searches were conducted by the FBI in 2021, U.S. intelligence officials said. That was up from just 1.2 million in 2020.
An FBI spokesperson disputed that searches were done in error, pointing to a previous report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“As the 2021 ODNI Annual Statistical Transparency Report explained, in 2021, FBI conducted 3,394,053 U.S. person queries, and approximately 1.9 million of those queries pertained to one investigation involving foreign actors attempting to compromise U.S. critical infrastructure,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. “The queries were not in error; rather, they were compliant with the query standard and were designed to identify victims of this potential compromise.”
Sharon Bradford Franklin, chair of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, told members that Congress should pass new legislation imposing greater safeguards into the system to protect Americans. That should include requiring probable cause or court review for each query of an American, she said.
“Congress certainly has the authority to do that. And I think that’s one of the key issues for this committee in the Congress to consider,” Horowitz said. However, adding new requirements could increase the FBI’s workload, he said.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) indicated support for adding new requirements.
“The solution is simple, right? Require probable cause if you’re going to query this database on American citizens,” he said.
Jordan also mentioned the possibility of revoking the FBI’s access to the database entirely.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) also said the system needs to be updated “to better protect Americans’ communications.”
Beth Williams, a member of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, told members that if the FBI were taken out of the picture, another agency would need to fill the void.
“The question is, if the FBI is not doing these searches to figure out who in the U.S. is talking to terrorists abroad, who is going to do it?” Williams said.
Revoking FBI access runs the risk of making the CIA or National Security Agency, which “look outward,” look “inward on Americans,” she said.
An investigation of a sampling of queries that followed found that none were carried out properly.
FBI officials have previously vowed to cut down on problems and urged members to continue reauthorizing FISA.
The hearing came as members consider reforms to the act, which is set to expire at the end of the year if there’s no congressional action.
