Congress Allows Decades-Old Surveillance Law to Expire Amid Trump's DNI Nomination Controversy
US Congress failed to extend Section 702 of FISA on Thursday night, marking the first expiration since 2008. The lapse is tied to political disputes over President Trump's controversial pick for Director of National Intelligence.
Congress failed to extend a key surveillance law on Thursday night, allowing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to expire for the first time since 2008, as the House is not expected to vote again until June 23. The House rejected a proposal to extend the law until July 2 on a 218-198 vote, which required a two-thirds majority but did not even receive a simple majority. Nearly 20 Republicans joined Democrats to block the motion. Hours later, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden blocked several proposed extensions in the Senate.
The law has been in place for nearly 20 years and has been renewed under multiple administrations. The current impasse stems from President Trump's announcement that he planned to install political ally Bill Pulte as Director of National Intelligence. Democrats raised concerns over Pulte's lack of intelligence experience and the risk that he could use information gathered under Section 702 for political or personal purposes. Pulte had made debunked allegations of mortgage fraud against Fed board member Lisa Cook, whom Trump removed from her post in August. Trump later nominated Jay Clayton, the top federal prosecutor in New York City, for the intelligence job, but suggested Pulte could serve in an acting capacity. "There needs to be a clear guarantee that Mr. Pulte will not serve as acting DNI," Senator Mark Warner said in a statement.
Section 702 permits warrantless surveillance of foreign targets outside the US and allows agencies like the NSA and FBI to spy on Americans if it is "reasonably likely" to collect foreign intelligence. Authorities have frequently abused this provision. The FISA surveillance court found tens of thousands of improper database searches in 2017 and 2018 alone. In 2019, a judge ruled that the FBI and NSA had committed multiple violations of the law or privacy-oriented court orders when collecting data from phone and tech companies. House Democrats are pushing for "meaningful reforms" to the law.
