Legislative battles over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) — under which feds can warrantlessly search a database using U.S. individuals’ personal information to obtain communications from people in the United States if they’re texting, emailing or calling overseas surveillance targets — are historically bruising because of a push-and-pull between civil liberties and national security. A hearing Tuesday suggested that big fights loom again before expiration next April of the most recent legislation on the topic.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had gripes at Tuesday’s hearing about that 2024 law, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA). The gripes included its exclusion of a warrant requirement for those U.S. person searches and an expansion of the definition of what kind of companies must comply with government information demands. Democrats also said the Trump administration’s personnel cuts have hampered oversight of the Section 702 program.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced a competing proposal in 2024 that would have included the warrant requirement, but an attempt to win its adoption fell on a tie vote of 212-212 on the House floor.