Rand Paul holds up Trump nominee over NSA spying

Good. Pleased to see this.

FISA is an area that needs much more sunlight. Much more.

Lord knows we don’t need another Boeing guy running the surveillance state.

(From Rare)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is reportedly holding up the nomination of one of President Trump’s key national security officials over his past work with NSA surveillance.

Paul has temporarily blocked John Demers, the current assistant general counsel for Boeing, from being confirmed as Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

Paul appears to be against Demers’ vocal support of Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, which allows the government to intercept communications involving American citizens and foreigners without a warrant.

If Demers is confirmed, he will be one of three Department of Justice officials with the authority to sign off on FISA applications…

…Paul and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) have been outspoken in their opposition to long-term reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act, promising to filibuster any legislation that allowed such reauthorization.

“We’ve got this massive database of warrantlessly collected communications that the FBI can sift through for purposes unrelated to terrorism or national security,” said Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, who agrees with the senators.

“I absolutely oppose permanent reauthorization,” Paul said earlier in December. “Any reauthorization has to be paired with more oversight, not less.”

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