Edward Snowden warns Mike Johnson against crossing red line

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson will feel the wrath of his party if he pushes warrantless surveillance, according to former National Security Agency intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Johnson, who has been in his role for about two months following the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy on October 3, could face a similar political fallout based on his approach to defense spending and including an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual bill that is instrumental to authorizing funding for the Department of Defense (DOD).

A list of internal talking points obtained by Axios shows Johnson being compared to ex-Republican House Speaker John Boehner, including one memo that refers to this year’s NDAA as “an utter disaster for House Republicans and a massive unforced error from leadership.”

“If Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) abuses the NDAA to smuggle into law an extension of the warrantless surveillance regime (FISA702) that the FBI exploited to spy ON AMERICANS more than TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND times in JUST ONE YEAR, he should be dumped just like McCarthy,” Snowden, who remains exiled in Russia after leaking classified documents in 2013, wrote on X. “No excuse.”

Newsweek reached out to Johnson’s office via email for comment.

U.S. intelligence officials argue that FISA Section 702 allows their agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance of non-American citizens outside the U.S. during investigations.

However, privacy concerns exist among many Americans and some members of Congress based on information collected on U.S. citizens that could be stored in the form of various communications for a number of years as part of a wide-ranging database.

Other vocal House Republicans chastising Johnson include Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who on Wednesday claimed collusion between Johnson and Democrats based on multiple measures included in the final draft of the NDAA.

Along with criticizing included policies like funding abortion travel and still allowing trans members of the military, she expressed disenchantment towards what she claims was a closed-door agreement between the GOP House leader and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat.

“Speaker Johnson worked with Chuck Schumer to cut a deal that removes all abortion and trans surgery prohibitions we passed under Speaker McCarthy,” Greene said on Wednesday. “It also would pass a CLEAN FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] extension. Not to mention, more of your taxpayer dollars sent to Ukraine to fund the proxy war.”

She said she is a “hell no” when it comes to approving the bill.

But Johnson’s office has defended the contents of the NDAA, saying that it targets initiatives and policies outlined by conservatives like Greene—including taxpayer-funded censorship of conservative media, banning critical race theory in the military, and “hollowing out” President Biden’s DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] “bureaucracy at the Pentagon,” per a statement provided to Axios.

“Speaker Johnson and committee leaders fought tooth and nail to refocus the Pentagon on core national defense priorities and away from the Biden Administration’s social experiments and climate agenda that in recent years have decimated our military’s recruitment, morale, and readiness,” Johnson’s office said.