The Hoover Institution hosted "Sunrise or Sunset? The Future of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act " on Thursday, June 1, 2017 from 12:00pm - 5:30pm EST.
On December 31, 2017, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) will sunset unless Congress renews it. Two classified programs which are part of Section702, codenamed PRISM and UPSTREAM, were exposed during the Snowden revelations. Members of Congress and senior intelligence officials have openly stated these programs are a vital counterterrorism tool and necessary to protect the U.S. from attacks. Unlike Section 215, which collected bulk American phone records, 702 targets the internet traffic of non-U.S. persons located outside of the United States. Yet, numerous prominent civil liberty organizations such as the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have expressed grave concern about the surveillance program. Leaders in the tech community also are concerned their organizations are being used as a vehicle for U.S. spying.
Stanford University's Hoover Institution seeks to explore these vexing policy challenges.
12:00 p.m.
Welcome
Introduction to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
12:45 p.m. - Lunch
1:15 p.m.
National Security View on Renewing Section 702
Matt Olsen, Former Director of the National Counterterriorism Center, in conversation with Benjamin Wittes, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
2:15 p.m. - Break
2:30 p.m.
The Law and Civil Liberties
James Baker, General Counsel, Federal Bureau of Investigation Alex Abdo, Senior Staff Attorney, Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University Moderated by: Shane Harris, Senior Correspondent, Wall Street Journal
3:45 p.m. - Break
4:00 p.m.
Keynote on Privacy and Surveillance Related to Section 702
Brennan Center for Justice
5:00 p.m - Rooftop Cocktail Reception
The video of the event is on C-SPAN.