'The US Government Improperly Queried Your PERSONAL Info': Senator Hawley at Judiciary FISA Hearing

[00:00:00] You said a moment ago that 702 cannot be [00:00:03] used to target Americans. Correct. But [00:00:07] that's cold comfort, isn't it? To the [00:00:09] 278,000 people or tens of thousands of [00:00:12] people who were the subject of 278,000 [00:00:14] improper searches, United States persons [00:00:17] that we're talking about in 2022 alone. [00:00:19] I mean, sure, the statute doesn't permit [00:00:22] them to be targeted, but when they have [00:00:24] their personal information directly [00:00:25] queried in an improper search, I mean, [00:00:28] what's the difference? [00:00:30] Yeah, thank you, Senator. And I [00:00:31] obviously if there's non-compliance with [00:00:33] the rules, that's a big problem. And if [00:00:35] there's any suggestion that things are [00:00:37] being done for political purposes or [00:00:38] other improper motives, that's a big [00:00:40] problem. It's something I've written [00:00:41] about many times. I think there is some [00:00:43] comfort for Americans, even if they're [00:00:45] queried, from the fact that foreign [00:00:47] intelligence targets overseas are the [00:00:49] people on whom this collection is based. [00:00:51] >> Why Why would that be? Why would I Why [00:00:54] would that make me feel any better? As [00:00:57] by the way, as someone who's had his [00:00:58] cell phone tapped improperly by the [00:01:00] United States government, by the way, [00:01:02] why would I feel any better if I'm told [00:01:05] that, oh, the US government improperly [00:01:07] queried your personal information and [00:01:08] not in this case just your location or [00:01:10] something else, your personal [00:01:12] communications. The government looked at [00:01:14] those, targeted them, you can use [00:01:16] whatever verb you want, found them out. [00:01:18] But don't worry, they weren't going [00:01:20] after you in the first instance. They [00:01:21] just happened to have all your stuff. [00:01:23] And so then they looked into it because [00:01:24] there are no effective constraints on [00:01:25] them. I mean, why why is that a good [00:01:28] thing? Shouldn't we do something about [00:01:29] that? [00:01:30] >> I'll say I think members of Congress do [00:01:31] have a heightened reason for concern, a [00:01:34] heightened expectation of safeguards in [00:01:36] this area. Members of Congress have [00:01:38] every right and every reason to talk to [00:01:39] foreign officials. And of course, the [00:01:41] executive [00:01:41] >> What about journalists? What about [00:01:43] normal Americans who is somebody who's [00:01:45] got a family member who lives overseas? [00:01:46] I don't care who the person is. My point [00:01:48] is when you've got in a single year [00:01:50] 278,000 [00:01:52] improper queries, it seems to me it [00:01:55] makes no difference to the Americans [00:01:57] whose data was improperly searched to [00:01:59] say, "Well, but it's really okay because [00:02:01] you weren't targeted." Yeah, all your [00:02:03] stuff was read, all your private stuff, [00:02:05] but don't don't worry, you weren't [00:02:07] targeted. I mean apparently you were [00:02:09] effectively targeted.