To decide on what to do next, it helps to have a clear view of the situation, and clarity often comes with time. Most issues are not so urgent that they require a manufactured rush or emotional impulse. To cite a Chinese proverb, “Muddy water let stand will clear.”

Congress is weeks into debating the renewal of an American “spy power” in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The extended discussion of FISA 702 supports our understanding of what it does, how it works, and why it needs fixing (or, like a replicant, retiring).

Reasons to fix FISA 702 are straightforward. One, while FISA 702 was enacted in 2008 to support the gathering of intel on foreign governments and terrorists, it has been used by U.S. government agencies to spy on U.S. citizens, violating our Constitutional right to privacy. Two, these abuses by the FBI and NSA and others have persisted and possibly expanded, even as they have been identified and called out. Three, the proposed fixes, while inconvenient for some, are clear and simple.

A series of brief posts summarizes, with linked references and entertaining sidenotes, the current context for fixing FISA 702:

• Part I: Cats and Dogs Agree
• Part II: Warrantless Searches and the Four-Way Test
• Part III: Simple Language and the Safe Act
• Part IV: Accept Inconvenience and Floss Your Teeth

In the end, the case can also be made to let FISA 702 expire. The current debate has a false urgency, while also supporting an opportunity to improve accountability and performance. As Victor Frankl, the holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, wrote:

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”