Episode 137 — Foreign Intelligence & Data Privacy - FBI Access to FISA Databases

Data Privacy Detective

The U.S. Government collects data globally about persons and organizations. In doing so, it collects vast amounts of data about U.S. persons “incidental” to collecting foreign intel for national security purposes. Since the Carter Administration when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) became law, this has raised conflicts between the personal privacy of U.S. and foreign persons and the Government’s interest in national security and crime prevention. The FBI has accessed FISA databases millions of times through U.S. person queries without a warrant – creating front-page news and raising major concerns from the left and right of politics.

Tune in to understand what is at stake, as Congress considers by December 31, 2023 whether and how to extend FISA. Learn about FISA, the reach of Section 702, how it operates in practice, and how the privacy issues involved affect data flows and commerce between the United States and Europe and the privacy of persons domestic and foreign. Consider how information about U.S. persons is involved and can be accessed without a judicial warrant. Our guests are Gene Price, a partner in Frost Brown Todd’s Louisville office, retired as Read Admiral from the U.S. Navy where he supported U.S. Cyber Command and Naval Information Forces Reserve, and Yugo Nagashima, a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and Deputy Chair of its Data Security and Privacy Team.

Time stamps:

01:45 — What is FISA?

09:23 — What is a “US person query”?

15:15 — What are the privacy implications of FISA?