On November 21, 2019, Congress temporarily extended the expiration date of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which allows the federal government to access domestic call records. This act is now survived by Section 103 of the USA Freedom Act by three months. Congress passed this extension by embedding it into a broader funding bill that forced members of Congress to either extend this program or face a government shutdown. This Act was cited as the “Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2020, and Further Health Extenders Act of 2019, which included several important Medicare and public health provisions that millions of citizens depend on. Congress continues to hide controversial measures in legislation that must be passed. This is bad for a number of reasons as the public is continually forced to be left in the dark on topics that affect their privacy rights as well as violates their fourth amendment rights. There was no major discussion on whether Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act which was continued into the USA Freedom Act under Section 103 should be extended but a simple marker that was hidden in a 26-page bill that stated “USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (50 U.S.C. 11 1805 note) is amended by striking ‘‘December 15, 2019’’ 12 and inserting ‘‘March 15, 2020” (United States Congress, 2001). The bill that was presented in Congress was ingrained in what is called a ‘must-pass bill’ which is exceedingly important and must be passed by the United States Congress.

“Earlier this fall, both in response to these revelations and because the authority for the programs are expiring, both the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary called witnesses from the NSA, the FBI, and the DOJ to discuss Section 215. The witnesses told both Committees they were requesting the renewal of the legal authorization for CDR program – which they had voluntarily shut down – because it might be useful one day. Additionally, the witnesses confirmed that the 215 “business records” provision may allow the government to collect sensitive information, like medical records, location data, or even possibly footage from a Ring camera. Both Committees appeared rightfully skeptical” (Mckinney, Page 1).

The DOJ, FBI, and NSA are completely aware of what this program entails, yet when it comes to addressing the entirety of this program, they seem to only have the response that it is the interest of the safety of the American people, with no further explanation. In July of 2019, Ron Wyden, a United States Senator commissioned a letter to the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, regarding section Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. Wyden asked important questions in this letter such as “Does Section 215 (U.S.C. 1861) preclude the intelligence community’s collection of cell site location information, not just with regard to the call detail program but with regard to the collection of any “tangible things” under the statute?” (Wyden, Page 2). Furthermore he asked “Does the Carpenter decision preclude the intelligence community’s collection of cell site location information without a probable cause warrant?” (Wyden, Page 2).

The Carpenter decision decided that access to a person’s cell-site records including seven days or more of cell-site records, is a violation of the Fourth amendment. Such a violation infringes on a person’s “expectation of privacy in the record of his physical movements.” Senator Wyden requested a response by early September, which was ample time considering the letter was drafted in July. However, Wyden did not receive any response from Coats until November, which is the same month the bill that extended Section 215 of the USA Patriot was published. The response letter was bleak and focused on how the Carpenter opinion “does not consider other collection techniques involving foreign affairs.”

Though it may appear that the government is searching communications that are strictly foreign, in this digital age, if this communication even passes through domestically or has one end located in America, its data will still be collected according to the Statistical Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security Authorities 2016 report. Senators Leahy and Lee have also drafted a letter to Director Coats, and the Attorney General, regarding the same matter at the same time as Senator Wyden and have not even been entertained with a response. The DOJ, FBI, and NSA are quite aware of the response they would have received from civil liberty advocates, which is why they slid this decision under the radar before the media could make any reports on this. Congress needs to realize that continuing to extend this provision of the USA Patriot Act does nothing but infringe on the rights of others, and have proven time and time again, that they are aware of this by their use of secrecy. In order to protect American’s civil liberties, The USA Freedom Act, must be rewritten, so that it terminates Section 103, and any semblance left of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. This also includes adding provisions that create restrictions from any mass collection of bulk biometric data to further protect a citizen’s Fourth Amendment right.