Congress Extends FISA Surveillance Powers 45 Days Amid Reform Fight

Congress voted to cleanly extend the Section 702 provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by 45 days on Thursday evening, just hours before the law – which authorizes warrantless searches of certain communications – was set to expire. 

Section 702 was initially set to lapse on April 15 before it received a short-term, two-week extension signed off by President Donald Trump. Delays in securing a longer-term extension have been the result of disagreements between adding new privacy safeguards for Americans’ data and extending the authority with no amendments.   

While Trump pushed for a clean 18-month extension, both Republican and Democrat privacy hawks have pushed back against the idea. As it is currently written, the law prohibits the targeting of Americans under Section 702; however, Americans’ communications can get swept up in searches meant to target non-U.S. persons abroad. 

Some proposed amendments to the provision would require warrants for accessing Americans’ communications, additional FISA Court oversight, and limit agencies’ ability to purchase personal data from brokers.  

The 45-day extension voted on by the Senate rejected a House package passed Wednesday to extend Section 702 for three years with some reforms. However, the package did not include the warrant requirement supported by bipartisan members. 

It also included a digital currency proposal deemed controversial, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., declared the package “dead upon arrival.” 

Lawmakers will have until June 12 to debate a longer-term extension of Section 702. Some Democrats are hoping that debate will come with new support from Americans.  

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced on the Senate floor Thursday that he secured a commitment from the U.S. attorney general (AG) and director of national intelligence (DNI) to declassify a FISA court ruling within 15 days. That followed a letter sent by Wyden and Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Mark Warner, D-Va., who serve as the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, to the AG and DNI with the declassification request. 

The court ruling was delivered to Congress last month, Wyden said.  

In a post to X, Wyden said the court opinion reveals “abuses of Americans’ rights will be DECLASSIFIED before Congress votes on reauthorization. The more Americans know about these abuses, the more they’ll demand real reforms.” 

While on the Senate floor, Wyden added that the 45-day extension will allow Congress to consider the impact of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence. “New tools require new rules, and we’re going to be able to think about how to proceed with that in the future,” Wyden said.  

In his own remarks, Thune said that he hopes “we can come to agreement that hopefully in this body, and the house, can agree upon to reauthorize the FISA program.” While he acknowledged that includes more privacy debates, he added “this will allow additional time to do that.”