A critical surveillance authority that underpins American counterterrorism operations is set to expire this week, with Capitol Hill deadlocked over a personnel dispute that has nothing to do with the tool itself.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is scheduled to lapse on Friday unless Congress acts. The authority allows the attorney general and director of national intelligence to compel telecommunications companies to provide communications involving foreign intelligence targets overseas. It supplies more than half the material for the president's daily intelligence briefing and has been credited with helping prevent terror attacks.
Democrats are blocking renewal unless President Trump withdraws his selection of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. Pulte, a businessman with no national security experience, was tapped by Trump to downsize the intelligence office. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said there is nothing to discuss until the nomination is abandoned. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Pulte "one of the most vicious, incapable, non-fact-based people" he has seen in government.
Before Trump's Pulte announcement, Republican and Democratic lawmakers appeared close to a bipartisan deal on a longer-term extension. Negotiations had been grinding along for months as the parties worked through disagreements over surveillance reforms, but consensus seemed within reach.
House Speaker Mike Johnson planned to bring a short-term extension to the floor Thursday morning that would keep Section 702 running through July 2. The measure requires two-thirds support to pass, a threshold Johnson is nowhere close to achieving. The vote is expected to fail.
Some Republicans and Democrats are split on the broader strategy. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who says he has used Section 702 to save lives, disagrees with both Pulte's nomination and Democratic opposition to the extension. Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he will not play politics with national security. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican pushing for surveillance reforms, is considering voting against even a short-term extension, saying lawmakers grow tired of requests for more negotiating time.
If Section 702 expires without congressional action, intelligence agencies and telecom companies will face immediate legal uncertainty about what collection activities can continue. The situation would amount to an unprecedented and largely untested period for one of the government's most heavily used intelligence tools.
Author James Rodriguez: "The irony here is stark: a surveillance tool that both parties recognize as essential to national security is being weaponized in an entirely separate fight over personnel."
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