Georgia Rep. Scott says FISA reform bill would reduce FBI personnel authorized to do queries by 90%

Congressman Austin Scott, R-Ga., said that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform bill he is getting behind in the House would shrink the amount of FBI personnel authorized to approve U.S. person queries by 90%. 

"There are protections for U.S. citizens in there," Scott said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. "But it still gives our law enforcement agencies the tools they need to do their job at the speed that they need to do if they're trying to stop a terrorist attack inside the United States."

The House Intelligence Committee approved the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023 last week. 

Scott explained that the bill would continue to give the government power to seize phone records from known terrorists inside the U.S., but it would require a warrant for a citizen in the U.S. 

"Our bill would ... continue the authority to get those records if we're getting the records from a known terrorist, not a U.S. citizen," he said. 

Scott emphasized the importance of FISA being reformed so unwarranted spying on American citizens couldn't happen anymore. 

"I firmly believe that the Intelligence bill has some protections in there, so that what happened to Carter Page could not happen again," he said. "And if it did happen, again, the people who did it would go to prison."