Text of Signing Statements
2018
Donald Trump


to jump to the text of a signing statement, click on it in the table below

Signing
Statement
Affected Law
2018-01

The FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017
S.139 

2018-02 The African Growth and Opportunity Act and Millennium Challenge Act Modernization Act
H.R. 3445
2018-03 The SECRET Act of 2018
H.R. 3210
2018-04 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act
S. 2155
2018-05 The John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka, and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018”
   or
The VA MISSION Act of 2018
S. 2372
2018-06 The North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act
of 2017
H.R. 2061
2018-07 The John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019
H.R. 5515
2018-08 Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019
H.R. 5895
2018-09 Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019
H.R. 6157
2018-10 Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019
H.R. 6157
2018-11 The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018
H.R. 302
2018-12 The Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018
H.R. 2259
2018-13 Orrin G. Hatch Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act
H.R. 1551
2018-14 The Save Our Seas Act of 2018
S. 3508
2018-15 The Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act
H.R. 6
2018-16 Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2018
S. 1595
2018-17 Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018
H.R. 6758
2018-18 Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018
S. 140 
2018-19 Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2018
H.R. 390
2018-20 Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018
H.R. 2
2018-21 Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018
H.R. 1918
2018-22 First Step Act of 2018
S. 756 
2018-23 Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 2018
H.R. 7213
2018-24 Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act H.R. 3342
2018-25 Abolish Human Trafficking Act of 2017
S. 1311
2018-26 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2017
S. 1312
2018-27 Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act
H.R. 5509
2018-28 Johnson-O’Malley Supplemental Indian Education Program Modernization Act
S. 2943
2018-29 Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018
S. 1526
2018-30 The Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018
S. 2736


2018-01

Signing Statement for S. 139, the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017

Text of the Signing Statement from the White House website

____________________

Statement by the President on FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017 

ISSUED ON
January 19, 2018

Today, I signed into law S. 139, “FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017” (the “Act”).  The Act reauthorizes Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until December 31, 2023, and makes a number of amendments to current law.  Section 702 of Title VII allows the Intelligence Community, under a robust regime of oversight by all three branches of Government, to collect critical intelligence on international terrorists, weapons proliferators, and other important foreign intelligence targets located outside the United States.


This intelligence is vital to keeping the Nation safe.  As shown by the recent attacks in New York City and elsewhere around the globe, we face a constant threat from foreign terrorist networks and other foreign actors who would do us harm.  In order to detect and prevent attacks before they happen, we must be able to intercept the communications of foreign targets who are reasonably believed to possess foreign intelligence information.  Section 702 provides the necessary authority, and it has proven to be among the Nation’s most effective foreign intelligence tools.  It has enabled our Intelligence Community to disrupt numerous plots against our citizens at home and our warfighters abroad, and it has unquestionably saved American lives.  The Act I have signed today preserves and extends this critically important national security tool.

Section 702 provides robust privacy protections for American citizens, and most importantly prohibits the Government from using it to target Americans and persons located in the United States.  Only foreigners located abroad may be targeted for surveillance under section 702.  While every court to have considered section 702 has found it to be legal and consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, the Act establishes additional procedures to further protect the privacy of Americans whose communications are incidentally collected under section 702.  Among these is a new requirement that in a predicated criminal investigation — an investigation with an elevated factual foundation — the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) apply for and obtain an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before accessing the contents of section 702 — acquired communications that were retrieved using certain United States person “query” terms.  By applying this provision only to certain queries in investigations unrelated to national security, the Act preserves the FBI’s ability to “connect the dots” and look for national security-related threats, especially during the critical pre‑investigation phase when it often does not yet have enough information to know whether a suspected threat relates to national security.  Although the Fourth Amendment does not require a court order to query information lawfully collected under section 702 — information already lawfully in the Government’s possession — this new procedure, along with the Act’s other oversight and transparency requirements, provides further privacy safeguards, while preserving the operational effectiveness of our foreign intelligence collection efforts.


I would have preferred a permanent reauthorization of Title VII to protect the safety and security of the Nation.  By signing this Act today, however, I am ensuring that this lawful and essential intelligence program will continue to protect Americans for at least the next 6 years.  We cannot let our guard down in the face of foreign threats to our safety, our freedom, and our way of life.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

January 19, 2018.

 

Annotations

Live Link to the Signing Statement on the White House website expand
Text of the Signing Statement from the GPO - 2017 CPD 312

 

Text of the same signing statement from the Compilation of Presidential Documents (CPD) published by the Office of the Federal Register at the Government Printing Office (GPO)

(click either link below to see the text)

1. HTML format at the GPO

2. PDF file from the GPO

 


Text of the Affected Law - P.L. 115-118 (S. 139)


The law to which this signing statement applies is:

S. 139, “FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017" - Public Law 115-118 -- 132 STAT 3

To read the law, select one of the links below:

1. Plain text at the GPO's Public and Private Laws

2. PDF from the GPO's Public and Private Laws

3. Enrolled text from GPO - PDF file 

 


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