Congress is set to take up the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a program that allows U.S. spy agencies to collect and analyze large volumes of overseas communications without a warrant. Supporters say it has helped uncover terrorist plots and provided information relevant to recent U.S. actions, while critics argue it raises civil liberties and privacy concerns because it can sweep up Americans’ communications when they interact with targeted foreigners. The program expires Monday, and lawmakers have been struggling to agree on whether to add safeguards before the deadline.
A key provision of the 702 program permits the CIA, National Security Agency, FBI and other agencies to collect overseas communications and analyze them without a warrant, with an incidental effect that can include the communications of Americans who are part of those overseas interactions. Critics have pushed for changes including a requirement that authorities get warrants before accessing the emails, phone calls or text messages of Americans. They also want limits on the government’s use of internet data brokers, whom critics say sell large volumes of personal information gathered online, potentially allowing an end-run around constitutional protections.
Planned House votes on the legislation were canceled Wednesday after an agreement between Republican leaders and some rank-and-file members proved elusive, according to the report. The effort faced added pressure, including a White House trip by some opponents and involvement from CIA Director John Ratcliffe. While some Republicans have continued to press for modifications, the likelihood of significant changes appeared to narrow after Trump publicly endorsed renewal, the report said.
On social media Tuesday, Trump said the foreign surveillance program was “extremely important to our military,” and the report said his support reduced the odds that enough Republicans would break with other lawmakers to push for a major overhaul. In a Truth Social post, Trump said a different FISA provision had been used to spy on his 2016 campaign but said he still supported Section 702’s renewal, urging lawmakers to extend the foreign surveillance program for 18 more months. Trump wrote that his administration had worked to ensure “FISA reforms are being aggressively executed at every level of the Executive Branch to keep Americans safe, while protecting our sacred Civil Liberties guaranteed by our Great Constitution,” according to the report.
The report said the program has long been a divisive issue within the Republican Party. It described Trump as a longtime critic of intelligence services who was once opposed to Section 702 before reversing himself, and it said his director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had sponsored legislation to repeal Section 702 as a Hawaii congresswoman but now supports it. The report also said that Gabbard’s office has described new protections added since her time in Congress as part of why she changed her position.
Some Republican House members who opposed the extension without changes met with officials at the White House late Tuesday, and Ratcliffe met with lawmakers early Wednesday, the report said. Trump also urged Republicans to unify in the push for the bill, telling reporters, “I am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor,” and adding, “We need to stick together,” as quoted in the report.
Critics have also sought assurances about how the government can search communications and how it reports those activities to the public. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said, “Journalists, foreign aid workers, people with family overseas, all could have their communications swept up in this surveillance merely because they talked to someone outside of this country,” according to the report. The report said Wyden is pushing for changes he described as preventing secret violations of civil rights.
Republicans have also raised the idea of adding guardrails, with Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., saying, “National security and civil liberties are not mutually exclusive.” The report cited Gabbard’s office’s annual reporting, saying it shows the number of foreign surveillance targets and the number of searches likely to identify an American. For 2025, the report said the number of foreign surveillance targets increased to nearly 350,000 from almost 292,000 in 2024, while searches using terms likely to identify an American decreased slightly to 7,724 from 7,845 in 2024, and it said the totals are incomplete because some agencies have found ways to access data without reporting the searches publicly.
The report also cited Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, saying agencies such as the FBI have found ways to access data without reporting the searches publicly, and it reported that court records in 2024 described FBI officials as repeatedly violating their own standards when searching for intelligence tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol and racial justice protests in 2020. Goitein was quoted comparing the approach to J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure at the FBI, saying it was “reminiscent of J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure at the FBI,” and adding, “They can pretty much target anyone.”
With Monday’s expiration looming, the report said there is limited time for Congress to add changes, despite bipartisan concerns about the law’s implications for civil liberties. Trump’s support also appeared to reduce the odds that enough Republicans would join Democrats to pursue a wholesale rewrite, the report said. Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, announced a proposal Tuesday that would require the Justice Department to seek a court order before the FBI could access search results involving Americans, and Himes said in a statement that he wants Section 702 renewed with new protections. “It “is too critical to allow it to expire, but the legitimate concerns about the possibility of abuse also demand that we consider additional reforms,” Himes said, according to the report.
The report said the House has been viewed as the best chance for inserting changes because many lawmakers have expressed concerns, but it also reported that Rep. Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican who leads the House Intelligence Committee, is backing Trump’s call for an 18-month renewal. Crawford has said he believes the government can empower spy agencies while also holding them accountable, according to the report. ___ Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.