The Congressional showdown on Section 702 reforms/renewal continues to generate little actual debate or reform — but plenty of bad proposals. Both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have decided there should be a renewal — preferably an extended one — with zero actual reform.

Members of the House offered up some tepid reforms in the USA Liberty Act, only to find this offering blocked by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), which offered a zero-reform package at the last minute. Fortunately, no one was able to tack a lousy non-reform bill to the tailend of the annual budget bill, thereby dodging reform discussions and giving the NSA a surveillance blank check for the next 5-10 years.

Having been stiff-armed for a few weeks, the HPSCI has put together another Section 702 „reform“ bill that does nothing to change the status quo and actually has the possibility of making things worse.