Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. government to collect data on non-U.S. persons located abroad with assistance from electronic communication service providers, is set to expire on December 31, 2023. In an article for Just Security, CERL Advisory Council member George Croner details the debate around this surveillance program, namely the “back door” search issue, and cautions against misdirected legislating.

George W. Croner is a member of the CERL Advisory Council. He is a Senior Fellow in the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, is a 1975 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (with distinction) and a 1980 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School (with honors). From 1984 through 1988, while holding the highest security clearance authorized by the U.S. government (TS/SCI), Mr. Croner served in the Operations Division of the Office of General Counsel at the National Security Agency (NSA) which had legal oversight responsibility for NSA’s signals intelligence (SIGINT) operations, including compliance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Read his full bio here.