Court Finds FBI Used Improper Surveillance Tools Repeatedly on Jan. 6 Suspects, Racial Justice Protests

A court order released Friday shows FBI officials violated agency standards more than 278,000 times when looking for information related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, racial justice protests.

The FBI said it has already fixed the problem and is blaming it on a misunderstanding between its employees and lawyers from the Justice Department about how to properly use a database known as Section 702, according to The Washington Post.

The order focuses on thousands of improper queries of foreign intelligence information gathered under a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The failure may make it harder for the agency to gain support from Congress to renew the law, which is due to expire at the end of this year. 

The heavily redacted court order was issued last year by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and a copy was released in an act of transparency. 

Members of Congress received the order last year when it was issued.