A long-standing law enabling U.S. intelligence agencies to collect large amounts of overseas communications without search warrants is set to expire on April 30. Lawmakers are gridlocked over whether to permit the Trump administration to renew it unchanged.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) lets the NSA, CIA, FBI, and other agencies record overseas communications through the U.S. without individual warrants.
While capturing global communications, these agencies also gather immense data on Americans who contact people under surveillance overseas, despite constitutional protections against government monitoring.
Ahead of the April 30 expiry following a brief extension, a bipartisan privacy-focused group of lawmakers seeks extensive FISA reforms, emphasizing the necessity to protect Americans’ privacy rights.
Some lawmakers demand widespread reforms due to years of scandals and surveillance abuses, while others are leveraging their votes to pursue wider political agendas using this legislative opportunity.
President Trump’s social media indicates support for a straightforward reauthorization without changes to the law.
The Government Surveillance Reform Act was introduced in Congress by Sens. Ron Wyden and Mike Lee, aiming to limit some warrantless surveillance programs. One objective is to close the “backdoor search” loophole, preventing agencies from accessing Americans’ communications without a warrant.
Another critical part of the proposed reform seeks to curb federal agencies from purchasing Americans’ data from brokers—a practice the U.S. has traditionally claimed doesn’t require court approval.
App developers gather extensive location data from users, selling it to brokers who sell to governments and militaries. FBI director Kash Patel has admitted the FBI buys Americans’ location data without court permission.
Both Republicans and Democrats reportedly want to close this loophole, which allows spy agencies to buy commercial data and analyze location points with AI. This is a contentious point in the U.S. government’s negotiations with Anthropic and OpenAI over their tool usage.
The ACLU, EPIC, and the Project on Government Oversight support the bipartisan bill.
The bill’s fate is uncertain, but lawmakers argue that legislative reforms are critical, especially as tech advancements enhance surveillance capabilities.
Wyden, the longest-serving intelligence committee lawmaker and privacy advocate, stated that successive administrations have utilized a secret, legal interpretation of Section 702 impacting Americans’ privacy rights, urging declassification for legislative discussion.
Rep. Thomas Massie said he’d oppose Section 702 reauthorization, echoing Wyden’s concerns about the FBI’s legal interpretations.
Even if Section 702 expires on April 30, U.S. surveillance powers won’t end immediately.
A legal technicality allows U.S. surveillance until March 2027 unless Congress acts, despite the law’s expiry.
This is because the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court annually asks the government to confirm its practices are lawful, effectively extending the surveillance programs for a year.
The U.S. government also holds other congressional oversight-free surveillance authorities, like Executive Order 12333, governing most surveillance outside the U.S. and intercepting unknown volumes of Americans’ communications.
First published on April 17 and updated following a 10-day extension.