Overview
- Lawmakers averted a lapse by passing a 45-day extension after a House plan that paired renewal with a ban on a Federal Reserve digital currency stalled in the Senate.
- Senate leaders set up a transparency step as Intelligence Committee chiefs Tom Cotton and Mark Warner agreed to ask the DNI and DOJ to declassify a key annual surveillance court opinion within 15 days.
- Section 702 lets agencies collect communications of foreign targets overseas, yet it also sweeps in messages involving Americans, and the FBI has repeatedly queried that data without warrants.
- Reform backers want to require warrants for searches involving Americans, stop agencies from buying Americans’ data from brokers, and narrow which companies can be compelled to assist surveillance.
- Even if the program holds under a separate court certification, telecom and tech firms may hesitate to share data without clear congressional cover, which puts pressure on Congress to settle long-term rules.