House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
In the letter, the groups slammed the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) for allegedly negotiating in "bad faith" after it and the House Judiciary Committee "agreed to a floor process the week of Feb. 12th to consider a base reauthorization bill, but with the opportunity for both committees to offer amendments, the contours of which were understood by both parties."
The letter also claims that on the eve of the Rules Committee hearing, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, "inexplicably released a cryptic Dear Colleague claiming a serious and urgent threat to national security requiring review by Members of the House in a classified setting."
That warning, reportedly, was the intelligence related to Russian nuclear capabilities in space which could threaten satellites, including potentially knocking out U.S. military communications and reconnaissance.
On Feb. 13, HPSCI voted 23-1 to make information about a destabilizing foreign military capability available to Members of Congress.
Turner and Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., issued a bipartisan notification — what's known as "a Dear Colleague letter" — urging their colleagues to review this classified information in the secured room on Feb. 13. The language of the Dear Colleague letter was cleared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
On Feb. 14, reports of the Dear Colleague letter surfaced, which prompted Turner to issue a statement around 11:30 a.m. about a "serious national security threat."
In an interview with "Meet the Press," Turner emphasized that he believed that the Biden administration was sleepwalking its way into an international crisis.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., is flanked by House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, left, and House Intelligence Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., at a briefing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 15. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
It lets the government keep tabs on specific foreign nationals outside the country without first obtaining a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of those communications is an American on U.S. soil.
Turner has also advocated for FISA reforms and put forth his own reforms.
But the groups told Johnson in its letter Thursday that while the genesis of HPSCI was originally intended to rein in and provide oversight of an unaccountable Intelligence Community found to be violating Americans’ rights, they claim it has "unfortunately morphed into merely a rubber stamp" of Intelligence Community activities, "unwilling to even have a debate on how to hold the Intelligence Community accountable for their rampant and repeated abuses of the Section 702 authority."
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"It is critical that Congress does not attempt to force a reauthorization of this authority into a must-pass legislative vehicle, and once and for all finally have a standalone vote on this topic. We stand ready to work with Congress to advance a solution that accomplishes the security and Americans' civil liberties," they said.
Brianna Herlihy is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
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