According to the CNN broadcaster, Section 702 had repeatedly helped the US intelligence community to detect cyber security threats, prevent cyber attacks, and disrupt the Wahhabi ISIS terror plots. An official told the broadcaster about two examples in which Section 702 had helped to disrupt terror plots.
For instance, numerous ISIS plots, in particular, a Trinidadian ISIS online recruiter who was later killed in Syria, were prevented due to surveillance, and these activities also helped identify the location and arrest the attacker in the Istanbul night club in January 2017.
Meanwhile, section 702, adopted in 2008, authorizes the intelligence community to target the communications of non-US citizens located outside the United States for foreign intelligence purposes. It is widely criticized by some congressmen and foreign governments. The statute will expire in December if it is not reauthorized by Congress.
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