Why Donald Trump and Kash Patel Want Your Data
The very administration that claimed to be the victim of surveillance overreach is now asking for the keys to the most powerful spy machine ever built.
By Jeff Nesbit
Are we really going to blindly trust President Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, to be in charge of surveillance on Americans without abusing his power and violating our privacy rights?
That’s the question every member of Congress ought to ask before voting soon on whether to agree to reauthorize FISA (the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act) and make the changes to Section 702 the Trump White House has asked for.
It’s useful in the FISA fight to remember that, just two years ago, the rhetoric from the Trump camp was clear: “KILL FISA.” Trump and his social media horde described FISA as a tool of the Deep State, a lawless mechanism used to spy on political campaigns and harass private citizens.
But today, the tune has changed from apocalyptic rhetoric about the Deep State spying on Trump to an autocratic victory march. The Trump White House is now demanding a “clean“ extension of Section 702, stripping any proposed reforms that would require the government to obtain a warrant before searching the data of American citizens.
The irony is genuinely hard to ignore. The very administration that claimed to be the victim of surveillance overreach is now asking for the keys to the most powerful spy machine ever built. With no strings attached.
Trump recently took to Truth Social to declare that he’s “willing to risk“ the rights and privileges of citizens for the sake of the military. But in a constitutional republic, rights aren’t chips to be gambled with by the executive branch.
Think about that for just a moment. Trump – who campaigned nonstop against a Deep State prying into his affairs – now wants that very same Deep State to violate the privacy rights of citizens for the sake of “national security” and a military that he wishes to command in autocratic fashion.
At the heart of this fight is FISA Section 702, a provision intended to track foreign threats. However, it effectively acts as a giant vacuum, incidentally sucking up the private emails and texts of millions of Americans.
Under the leadership of Patel -- who recently admitted the FBI is already buying Americans’ location data -- the risk of these backdoor searches turning into political tools is no longer a conspiracy theory. It’s a structural probability.
The battle lines in Congress have shifted in ways that defy traditional partisanship. A “Warrants or Bust” coalition, ranging from the Congressional Progressive Caucus to hardline conservatives like Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, is holding the line for the Fourth Amendment.
Yet, the Trump White House is finding support in unexpected places. Reports suggest the Congressional Black Caucus is being lobbied to provide the decisive votes for a “clean” bill, a move that would betray their long-standing opposition to the surveillance of activists and minority communities.
The administration’s timing is calculated. By leaning on the pressures of the war in Iran, it is deploying the oldest trick in the Washington playbook: using a foreign crisis to justify a domestic power grab.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has already signaled that he will block any privacy amendments, claiming they make the bill too difficult to pass.
If Congress votes for a clean reauthorization, it isn’t just passing a national security bill. It’s handing a blank check to an FBI director and a White House that have already shown they view civil liberties as optional.
Before the clock runs out on April 20, members of Congress have one important question to decide: Do they represent the citizens whose privacy is at stake or the Trump administration bureaucracy that wants to watch them?
Jeff Nesbit was the public affairs chief for five Cabinet secretaries or agencies under four presidents. “Digital Dust,” his new book on the creation of the mass surveillance state in America, will be out in early summer this year.
I think it is clear that the members of Congress do NOT represent the people who elected them.
They have no right to any of my data unless I give them permission. I hope there’s massive unco-operation in getting this passed. It should be a felony for them to extract anyone’s data without their permission.