Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News
Among the biggest threats Director Wray emphasized at the event is the counterintelligence threat from the Chinese Communist Party. “I’ve been very vocal since early in my tenure that there is no country—underline no country—that represents a broader, more severe counterintelligence threat to the United States than the People’s Republic of China,” Director Wray said.
Key to the FBI’s ability to continue to keep Americans safe from these threats, including terrorism, espionage, and cyber attacks, Director Wray said, is renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
“702 authority is vital, absolutely vital—not important, not nice-to-have—vital,” Director Wray said, explaining that Section 702 is authority that allows the Intelligence Community to conduct targeted surveillance of non-U.S. persons located abroad in national security investigations.
The government uses the information collected under Section 702 to protect the United States and its allies from hostile foreign adversaries, including terrorists, spies, and malicious foreign nation-state cyber actors.