White House will hold meeting to discuss renewal of controversial spying power
The law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allows spy agencies to target communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant, but the process can also sweep up communications of Americans talking to targeted persons, raising major civil liberties concerns.
“The President, several of his top advisers, and lawmakers will be participating in a discussion at the White House today about FISA Section 702 renewal,” a senior White House official told Nextgov/FCW in an email. “As always, the President is the final decision-maker on policy matters.”
The meeting is expected to include CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and top advisor Steven Miller, as well as Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Rick Crawford of Arkansas, according to The Record, which first reported details of the convening.
Lawmakers, civil liberties organizations and other officials have asked the Trump administration for months about its stance on the authority, but the White House has not taken an official position.
The dynamic hit a tipping point last week when lawmakers in a classified briefing grew frustrated with FBI and NSA officials who could not provide them with a clear answer on the administration’s position for the surveillance authority, CNN reported Monday.
The FBI has privately warned congressional staffers that it’s very concerned about the law lapsing this spring, Nextgov/FCW previously reported.
Some lawmakers and civil liberties groups argue a warrant should be mandated for searches of collected 702 data that include U.S. persons’ communications, as it would create legal safeguards to protect Americans against unreasonable searches under Fourth Amendment protections. A warrant for such queries has been historically opposed by law enforcement and intelligence officials, who argue that they can slow down timely investigations.
Efforts to require warrants for 702 searches involving Americans’ communications came close to success during the 2024 reauthorization debate, when a House amendment failed after a 212–212 tied vote.
Notably, in written questions during her confirmation hearing, Gabbard said warrants “should generally be required before an agency undertakes a U.S. Person query of FISA Section 702 data, except in exigent circumstances, such as imminent threats to life or national security.”
The law has united both progressives and Trump allies who have been heavily critical of FISA abuses documented by government oversight bodies.
The FBI has acknowledged improper use of Section 702, specifically admitting to searching for information on individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, as well as people arrested during 2020 racial justice protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
Those misuses fueled a number of reforms put into place when then-President Joe Biden signed a law renewing the statute for just two years in April 2024.
During the 2024 reauthorization cycle, Trump — then a presidential candidate — publicly called for Congress to “kill” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, though he was conflating the specific Section 702 authority up for renewal with the broader law in which it’s housed. His demand stemmed from FBI-led investigations into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia, specifically the FISA warrants used to surveil former advisor Carter Page, which he and his allies characterized as a weaponization of the intelligence community.
The FBI and other major national security components have long viewed Section 702 as a cornerstone spying tool. Many of the reforms placed in the last reauthorization cycle were focused on the FBI, including a quarterly directive for the bureau to tell Congress the number of U.S. person searches it conducts.
Collected Section 702 communications are stored in classified databases, where analysts query them for foreign intelligence. Search terms — known officially as “selectors” — can include names, phone numbers or email addresses of targeted individuals.
Because a warrant is not required under the program, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court signs off on the rules that govern how analysts choose their targets and how they handle any U.S. communications swept up in collection procedures. Analysts may query stored U.S. person data when they believe doing so is reasonably likely to return useful info for investigations.
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