Changes from the FBI and Congress have “significantly reduced” the number of noncompliant searches under a powerful surveillance authority, a Justice Department watchdog reported Thursday. Searches of Americans’ information became a focal point of a bitter and prolonged debate in the 118th Congress that pitted privacy hawks against intelligence-focused lawmakers about reauthorization of Section 702. “Based on those reports, it appears that the FBI is no longer engaging in the widespread noncompliant querying of U.S. persons that was pervasive just a few years ago,” the watchdog report said. Privacy hawks argued queries of Americans’ information equated to “warrantless” searches. The final legislative product, which passed Congress last year, codified already existing FBI policies and procedures and required new changes to the agency’s querying practices, according to the watchdog report.