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It ought to bother us that in the case of most of the recent terror attacks in the United States, law enforcement knew the people involved.

Omar Mateen, who killed 53 in a gay bar in Orlando, had been questioned twice after people from his mosque told the FBI he had become dangerously radicalized. Russia had warned the FBI and CIA to beware of the Tsarnaev brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon.

We knew him. We had investigated him. We had put him in jail, Kentucky Sen. Rand PaulRand PaulOvernight Finance: Ryan lays out timeline for ObamaCare, tax reform | Dow hits 20K | GOP weighs how to pay for border wall Trump review exposes GOP divide on torture Rand Paul criticizes alternative GOP health plan MORE noted. Yet we did not closely monitor him after all of this, largely because we were too busy with searching the entire countrys electronic communications.

Paul raised points privacy advocates have wrestled with for some time. Why didnt we realize these were the people who posed the most serious threats? How can we help law enforcement determine which of all the suspected terrorists it monitors is most likely to launch an attack? Are we watching closely enough or perhaps too closely? Would we notice more if we watched less?

These questions will be at the forefront in coming weeks when Congress takes up legislation to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Such laws always attempt to balance legitimate security needs against Americans right to privacy in their own affairs. In this case, it seems Americas security would be enhanced if it gave Americans back their right to email in private.

The previous two presidential administrations viewed the 1986 law as a license to snoop into whole classes of emails without a warrant as long as the email is 180 days old or more. And the results have not been edifying.

This random searching for the right combination of words to trigger further surveillance measures is itself an imprecise science, and one National Security Agency blogger estimated that reading all of Americas email generates 10,000 misfires for every hit. Not for nothing has National Law Review named this problem the top privacy issue of 2017.

Additionally, unfettered access to private emails does not seem to comport with the Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure without a duly sworn warrant.

Congress is attempting to fix the problem by restoring the Fourth Amendment. The Email Privacy Act, just re-introduced in the new Congress by Reps. Kevin YoderKevin YoderCongress must restore 4th Amendment protections for email privacy Overnight Cybersecurity: Russia report fallout Overnight Tech: Trump meets Alibaba founder | Uber to make some data public | GOP Lawmakers tapped for key tech panels MORE (R-Kansas) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) would force the government to obtain an individualized warrant before searching anyones email.

Similar legislation, with more than 300 co-sponsors, passed the House last April by a 419-0 vote. It stalled in the Senate after controversial amendments were added, but Sens. Chris CoonsChris CoonsCongress must restore 4th Amendment protections for email privacy Senators move to nix Trump's ban on funding NGOs that provide abortions Senate confirms Trump's UN ambassador MORE, D-Del., and Orrin HatchOrrin HatchCongress must restore 4th Amendment protections for email privacy GOP lawmakers set for packed schedule at Philly retreat Overnight Healthcare: Wounded Price heads toward confirmation | 'Death spiral' debate heats up | House panel to look at ObamaCare replacement bills MORE, R-Utah, plan to reintroduce it in this Congress.

An update for ECPA has long been in order. After spending two decades in the technology sector where things evolve at light speed, it is hard to believe that were starting another year with laws that were written for how computing worked in the 1980s, said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), a former Microsoft VP.

But the impetus for action by Congress is a case in which the government ordered Microsoft to turn over emails stored on a server in Ireland. Although the courts ruled in Microsofts favor, the DOJ appealed the decision. This week, a federal appeals court affirmed that law enforcement cannot demand emails stored outside the country.

The Senate legislation, called the International Communications Privacy Act, would codify the court decision and require a specific search warrant for turning over emails to the government. It also would create a clear legal framework for law enforcement to obtain electronic communications of people in the United States, regardless of where those communications are housed and would allow law enforcement to obtain electronic communications relating to foreign nationals in some circumstances.

The legislation also would reform the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty process and establish that data providers should not be subject to data localization requirements, which Hatch says are incompatible with the speed, innovation and borderless nature of the Internet.

Mary Jo White, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, asked senators to consider exempting the SEC from the warrant requirement because it cant get the FBI to request warrants on its behalf and it sometimes conducts civil investigations with no offsetting criminal investigation and thus has no opportunity to request warrants.

But an exception for the SEC means an exception for the IRS and a few other agencies, and thus should be opposed.

This is a situation where Congress seems largely on the same page, but no one is sure what President Trump will do with such legislation. He has vowed to cut regulation but has expressed support for providing strong anti-terrorism tools to foreign and domestic police.

But a general search not only is precisely what the Constitution forbids, it creates a lot of useless leads law enforcement has to follow. It will keep us safer from both overweening government and enemies abroad if Congress can get reform over the finish line.

Brian McNicoll is a former director of communications for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and a former senior writer for the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

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Congress must restore 4th Amendment protections for email privacy - The Hill (blog)