A 9/11-era espionage case is drawing bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill, setting up a high-profile conflict between protecting Americans’ privacy and keeping them safe from terrorism in the midst of the Iran war.
Senators press intelligence leaders on Iranian threat and war strategy
Intelligence leaders faced tense questioning in the Senate as Tulsi Gabbard defended the US assessment of the Iran war.
WASHINGTON – When members of Congress are still voting at 2:30 a.m., it’s usually a sign of trouble on Capitol Hill.
That fact was all too clear last week as Republican Speaker Mike Johnson scrambled to strike a last-minute deal with members of his own party on the House floor in the middle of the night.
The pressing issue is a controversial part of the government’s flagship spying law that is becoming increasingly depleted on Capitol Hill as a key deadline for its renewal approaches. Since returning from spring break, lawmakers have been embroiled in a contentious debate that pits concerns about protecting Americans’ privacy and civil liberties against the need to keep the public safe.
The 9/11 statute, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), allows U.S. spy agencies to access foreigners’ text messages, phone calls, and emails without a warrant. Although the purpose of the surveillance programs is to track down enemy spies and extremists, critics say Americans’ communications could also be caught up in the programs.
As the reauthorization deadline approached in recent days, freedom advocates in Congress went after it hard, preventing Republican leaders from pushing through with the reauthorization without making any changes.
“We are witnessing warrantless backdoor surveillance of American citizens,” Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) said on social media. “That’s not true.”
The stakes are high: As the Iran war raises concerns about terrorism in the United States and around the world, leading lawmakers say a deal needs to be reached quickly.
“Our successes in Venezuela and Iran would not have been possible without this critical national security tool,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
President Donald Trump is asking Congress to pass an 18-month extension of the law without major amendments, despite repeatedly alleging privacy violations against him by U.S. intelligence agencies under the previous administration.
“The fact is, whether you like it or not, FISA is very important to our military,” he said on his social media platform Truth Social.
Stopgap buys time amid bipartisan oversight
Even in the midst of the Iran war, new bipartisan scrutiny of Section 702 is creating strange bedfellows on Capitol Hill.
In a joint April 17 op-ed in the New York Times, Mike Lee, perhaps one of the most conservative Republicans in the Senate, and Sen. Dick Durbin, a staunch Democrat, called for major changes to Section 702. It argued that the section routinely allows agencies like the FBI to search the private communications of American citizens without a warrant. Senators are touting their bill as closing privacy loopholes and introducing more guardrails.
“This is a clear violation of constitutionally protected rights,” they wrote. “Congress should not unnecessarily rush to expand this authority without the American people and their elected representatives knowing the full truth about the extent of ongoing human rights violations and compliance obligations.”
Other Republicans have separately said they would not vote for a FISA extension unless it includes voting restrictions for the midterm elections. Lawmakers like Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) want to incorporate the bill into President Trump’s top legislative priority, the so-called SAVE America Act, which would, among other things, require proof of citizenship to register to vote. But House Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) have repeatedly shot down that idea.
On April 17, the House and Senate unanimously passed a 10-day interim measure extending Section 702’s renewal deadline until April 30. The delay gave lawmakers about a week to find a compromise.
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social..
