House Dem Jayapal grills FBI’s Wray on collecting Americans’ data, warns of ‘difficult’ FISA reauthorization
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal grilled FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday over the bureau’s collection of data from Americans, and warned that the upcoming reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will be “difficult.” Jayapal, a Democrat representing Washington’s 7th Congressional District, pressed Wray on the issue during a virtual hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. Wray, who has served as director of the FBI since 2017, was asked to provide details of the bureau’s data collection practices. He explained that the agency relied on special tools and procedures to collect data from “malicious actors,” while stressing that it did not “collect data on ordinary Americans.” Jayapal then asked if the FBI used the data to search for certain types of political affiliations or voting data. Wray said he was unable to answer such questions in a public setting, but offered to discuss it in a closed session. The congresswoman then warned that the upcoming debate over the reauthorization of FISA authority, which is set to expire this year, would be “quite difficult.” She expressed her concern that a lack of accountability and transparency associated with the federal government’s surveillance practices could “undermine the civil liberties of our citizens.”