Joe Biden on Friday quietly rescinded Executive Branch rules on wiretapping and bulk data collection.
The new orders were originally thought to allow for more data collection but that may not be the case.
Lawyer Will Chamberlain shared the news on Twitter and provided his analysis of Biden’s actions.
Will Chamberlain: “They rescinded a 2014 executive order that constrains wiretapping and bulk data collection and simultaneously put in place a new one that is even more restrictive.”
Biden eliminated wording that said, “the United States shall not collect signals intelligence for the purpose of suppressing or burdening criticism or dissent.” And that SIGINT should be collected only when there is an intelligence or counterintelligence purpose.
The directive can be found here:
FYI — This post was updated to reflect new information on the Executive order.