新华社华盛顿1月19日电   美国总统特朗普19日签署一项法案，批准将颇具争议的《涉外情报监视法》702条款延长6年。这意味着美国情报机构将能继续在没有授权的情况下，监控美国境外目标的电邮和短信等通信。

　　美国国会2008年通过了702条款，但这一法案将在19日到期。此前两周，美国众议院和参议院已分别批准在基本不做修改的情况下延长该法案。

　　白宫在一份声明中说，这一法案重新授权美国情报机构收集国外目标的情报，也允许美国相关机构分享防止恐怖袭击和网络犯罪的信息。

　　2013年，美国防务承包商前雇员斯诺登曝光美国情报机构对网络和电话实施大规模监控，引发轩然大波。2015年，美国国会通过法案，决定结束只针对美国国内的监控项目。

　　对于702条款，美国国内的主要争议是，虽然它不允许直接监控美国公民，但却允许收集与外国人通信的美国人相关信息，无论他们是否在美国国内。还有专家称，该法案也允许美国政府收集谷歌、微软等美国公司的数据。

　　因此，曾有议员提出一条限制条款，要求情报机构在收集美国人的信息前先取得法庭授权，但未获众议院通过。

　　白宫声明和特朗普的推文强调，最新法案加强了对美国人隐私的保护，并增加了对滥用授权的监督，与奥巴马政府时期的法案不同。

　　对此，美国公民自由联盟在转引特朗普推文时说：“这要么是谎言，要么是特朗普又一次搞混了。”该组织认为，这一法案实际上将允许美国政府继续侵入美国人的私人电邮、短信和其他通信。(记者林小春  周舟)

Statement by the President on FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017

 FOREIGN POLICY

 Issued on: January 19, 2018

Today, I signed into law S. 139, “FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017” (the “Act”).  The Act reauthorizes Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until December 31, 2023, and makes a number of amendments to current law.  Section 702 of Title VII allows the Intelligence Community, under a robust regime of oversight by all three branches of Government, to collect critical intelligence on international terrorists, weapons proliferators, and other important foreign intelligence targets located outside the United States.

This intelligence is vital to keeping the Nation safe.  As shown by the recent attacks in New York City and elsewhere around the globe, we face a constant threat from foreign terrorist networks and other foreign actors who would do us harm.  In order to detect and prevent attacks before they happen, we must be able to intercept the communications of foreign targets who are reasonably believed to possess foreign intelligence information.  Section 702 provides the necessary authority, and it has proven to be among the Nation’s most effective foreign intelligence tools.  It has enabled our Intelligence Community to disrupt numerous plots against our citizens at home and our warfighters abroad, and it has unquestionably saved American lives.  The Act I have signed today preserves and extends this critically important national security tool.

Section 702 provides robust privacy protections for American citizens, and most importantly prohibits the Government from using it to target Americans and persons located in the United States.  Only foreigners located abroad may be targeted for surveillance under section 702.  While every court to have considered section 702 has found it to be legal and consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, the Act establishes additional procedures to further protect the privacy of Americans whose communications are incidentally collected under section 702.  Among these is a new requirement that in a predicated criminal investigation — an investigation with an elevated factual foundation — the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) apply for and obtain an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before accessing the contents of section 702 — acquired communications that were retrieved using certain United States person “query” terms.  By applying this provision only to certain queries in investigations unrelated to national security, the Act preserves the FBI’s ability to “connect the dots” and look for national security-related threats, especially during the critical pre‑investigation phase when it often does not yet have enough information to know whether a suspected threat relates to national security.  Although the Fourth Amendment does not require a court order to query information lawfully collected under section 702 — information already lawfully in the Government’s possession — this new procedure, along with the Act’s other oversight and transparency requirements, provides further privacy safeguards, while preserving the operational effectiveness of our foreign intelligence collection efforts.

I would have preferred a permanent reauthorization of Title VII to protect the safety and security of the Nation.  By signing this Act today, however, I am ensuring that this lawful and essential intelligence program will continue to protect Americans for at least the next 6 years.  We cannot let our guard down in the face of foreign threats to our safety, our freedom, and our way of life.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

January 19, 2018.