Amid scandal and abuse, reforming the FISA surveillance system will not be easy. But without systemic reform, the secret court at the heart of the government’s surveillance authority may not even survive.

“I don’t even give [the secret FISA Court] a 50-50 chance” of survival in its present form, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) told Just The News.

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Many Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill now say they are in agreement that something transformative must be done to fix shortcomings in the programs that allow government spying on U.S. citizens. But agreement on details is proving elusive.

Add to the mix that Trump Attorney General William Barr is pressing Congress to authorize an extension of the government’s authority just as it is without reforms.

The office of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told Just The News that Wyden “has long fought for fundamental reforms to surveillance programs to better protect Americans’ rights. [Wyden] believes there should be more transparency … and better protections for due process.”

Rep. Perry says he is among a significant group in Congress that favors eliminating the FISA court altogether

“There’s nothing that can be done to save it legitimately,” he said. “It has to be shut down.”

A top official on Capitol Hill who asked not to be identified by name said there is “high double digit” support among Democrats for such a measure and “very significant bipartisan support for reforms or elimination.”

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) is promoting a bill that would continue FISA with some changes. But Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said today that it does not include enough reforms and penalties.

The government’s authority to secretly monitor Americans largely comes from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), enacted in 1978. It created a special court that authorizes the sensitive and sometimes controversial practice of government wiretaps of American citizens on U.S. soil.

For years, there has been tension between privacy advocates, who say government intrusion into the privacy of Americans must be kept in careful check, and those who say that the need to secretly monitor the communications of some targeted citizens is a matter of national security.

Longstanding controversies have been stoked with the recent determination that at least two FBI wiretaps against former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page were improperly obtained. The Justice Department Inspector General found a long list of what he testified were inexplicable and egregious abuses by Department of Justice and FBI officials in the Page wiretaps. That included an FBI attorney allegedly doctoring a document that was presented to the court, an alteration which hid the fact that Page, far from being the Russian agent the government portrayed, was actually a longtime CIA informant supplying the agency with intelligence about Russia.

The Justice Department has now said the questioned wiretaps were “invalid.”

“Obviously, we counted on the government to do the right thing with this incredibly powerful tool,” Perry said. “And it’s just as obvious that the government has proven just as incapable of safeguarding our liberties.”

Perry also struck at the FISA Court judges, calling them “part of the problem.”

A key Republican voice in the Senate, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says he agrees with the need for reform but not the idea that the FISA Court should be thrown out. As head of the Judiciary Committee, Graham says a “functioning, absolutely capable FISA Court” is needed to play a role in preventing terrorism.

Graham has some work to do persuading his colleagues.

“There is a growing consensus on Capitol Hill to let the FISA reauthorization lapse,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told Just The News. “The process, while heralded by [the Department of Justice] and the intelligence community has had mixed results and will certainly not gain congressional support without major reforms.”

(Excerpt from Just the News. Article by Sharyl Attkisson.)