Foreign Intelligence Accountability Act

Foreign Intelligence Accountability Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act

This bill reauthorizes Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) until April 30, 2029, and expands protections related to surveillance under Section 702 of FISA. It also prohibits a Federal Reserve bank from offering financial products or services directly to an individual, maintaining an account on behalf of an individual, or issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Section 702 of FISA concerns acquiring communications of non-U.S. persons believed to be outside the United States to obtain foreign intelligence information. Information about U.S. persons may incidentally be acquired by this type of surveillance and subsequently queried (searched) under certain circumstances.

Changes to Section 702 include requiring monthly reviews by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for each U.S. person query conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ODNI must refer queries that do not comply with established standards, as well as possible abuses of civil liberties or privacy, to the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General.

The bill institutes criminal penalties for (1) those who knowingly and willingly falsify or materially misrepresent complying with querying procedures, and (2) FBI personnel who knowingly and willingly violate procedures related to U.S. person queries.

FBI supervisors may no longer approve U.S. person queries; only certain FBI attorneys may do so.

The Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors may not use a CBDC to implement monetary policy or test, study, create, or implement a CBDC, with certain exceptions.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov