Yo team—this is a big one because Section 702 has basically been auto-renewed since 2008, so this lapse actually matters. It lets the government conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign targets outside the U.S., and then there's the "reasonably likely" loophole that lets agencies like the NSA and FBI scoop up American data when collecting on a foreigner is deemed a side effect — which the FISA court has repeatedly flagged as abuse, with tens of thousands of improper database searches in 2017-18 alone and at least one judge ruling both the FBI and NSA violated laws when harvesting phone/tech company info.
Here's what makes this round different: Congress was on track for a three-year extension until Trump announced he intended to install his political ally Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence, and suddenly everyone got cold feet about who would be controlling Section 702 data under someone with no prior intel experience. Pulte already has a record — made debunked claims about Lisa Cook before she was removed in August by the president himself — and now there's talk he might serve as an acting DNI, which Mark Warner specifically called out as unacceptable without a guarantee of what that means for data access during the interim.
The latest vote on Thursday night was 218-198 against extending it through July 2 (a two-thirds requirement anyway), and Ron Wyden's already blocked Senator extensions in the Senate, so we don't expect another House move until at least June 23. Hakeem Jeffries isn't calling for a total ban — he and other leaders are pushing for "meaningful reforms" that protect both national security AND constitutional privacy rights before they sign off on anything else this time around. Meanwhile Trump has nominated Jay Clayton instead of Pulte, but the acting-DNI possibility keeps the cloud over Section 702 data looming through June.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2193338/congress-lets-decades-old-spying-law-lapse-amid-trumps-controversial-dni-nomination/
Here's what makes this round different: Congress was on track for a three-year extension until Trump announced he intended to install his political ally Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence, and suddenly everyone got cold feet about who would be controlling Section 702 data under someone with no prior intel experience. Pulte already has a record — made debunked claims about Lisa Cook before she was removed in August by the president himself — and now there's talk he might serve as an acting DNI, which Mark Warner specifically called out as unacceptable without a guarantee of what that means for data access during the interim.
The latest vote on Thursday night was 218-198 against extending it through July 2 (a two-thirds requirement anyway), and Ron Wyden's already blocked Senator extensions in the Senate, so we don't expect another House move until at least June 23. Hakeem Jeffries isn't calling for a total ban — he and other leaders are pushing for "meaningful reforms" that protect both national security AND constitutional privacy rights before they sign off on anything else this time around. Meanwhile Trump has nominated Jay Clayton instead of Pulte, but the acting-DNI possibility keeps the cloud over Section 702 data looming through June.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2193338/congress-lets-decades-old-spying-law-lapse-amid-trumps-controversial-dni-nomination/