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NPR — Why Congress is fighting over a central tool of American surveillance (Section 702)
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Why Congress is fighting over a central tool of American surveillance Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is responsible for a huge share of intel collected by the U.S. Lawmakers and civil liberties advocates are worried it enables warrantless spying on U.S. citizens.
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Why Congress is fighting over a central tool of American surveillance
April 14, 20265:00 AM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
Eric McDaniel
Why Congress is fighting over a central tool of American surveillance
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A computer workstation bears the National Security Agency logo inside the Threat Operations Center in the Washington suburb of Fort Meade, Md.
Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images
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Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images
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A key tool of the U.S. spy community will expire this month without action from Congress. The government says the intel gathered through the provision — Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA 702 — underpins a majority of the articles in the president's daily intelligence briefing and is a key asset in international counterterrorism and the fight against trafficking.
But a number of lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, are concerned that FISA 702 allows for the federal government to spy on the communications of American citizens without a warrant, violating their constitutional right to privacy.
The looming fight to bolster the law's civil liberties protections is likely to be bruising — and the provision's advocates claim it could jeopardize national security.
What is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act?
Section 702 of FISA empowers U.S. intelligence agencies to collect and review the electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside the United States without obtaining individual court orders.
Sometimes, foreign nationals communicate with people in the United States, leading to incidental collection of Americans' communications.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says the government uses the information collected through the program to protect the U.S. and its allies from foreign adversaries — including terrorists and spies — as well as to inform cybersecurity efforts.
"No one denies the immense intelligence value of Section 702," Stewart Baker, former National Security Agency general counsel, told Congress in January.
"The U.S. government recently credited the program with helping to disrupt several terrorist attacks here and abroad, identify the Chinese origins of imported fentanyl precursors, respond to ransomware attacks on U.S. companies, identify Chinese hackers' intrusions into a network used by a key U.S. transportation hub, and disrupt foreign government efforts to carry out kidnappings, assassinations, and espionage on U.S. soil. Those examples just scratch the surface," Baker said.
Why is Congress debating this now?
The program's 2024 authorization is set to expire on April 20 — unless Congress votes to renew it. Congress has always attached an expiration date to Section 702, which makes its renewal a recurring fight on Capitol Hill.
Civil liberties-minded legislators of both parties have long been concerned that Section 702 enables illegal, warrantless surveillance of American citizens by the federal government. And unlike most issues in contemporary politics, the issue doesn't break cleanly along party lines.
Prominent critics include Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio.
But, with a change in administration since the last renewal battle, some lawmakers have switched sides.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who previously voted against the renewal because of its lack of a warrant requirement to query information about Americans, told The Hill he thought reforms to the program were working.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is working to rally his colleagues against a renewal — after voting for it in 2024.