Section 702 fight deepens as Congress nears surveillance lapse

Section 702 was built to let the government collect foreign intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad without seeking an individual warrant for each target. Now the authority is sliding toward a lapse that would force Washington to separate genuine operational damage from the political theater that has grown around the program.

The law, first enacted in 2008 and last reauthorized on April 20, 2024 under the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, was set to expire on April 20, 2026. In the current showdown, senators voted 52-47 on June 5 against taking up a House-passed three-year deal, and the House then rejected a short-term extension through July 2 by 198-218 on June 11 before leaving town until June 23. That leaves the program closer to a lapse and increases the odds of either a last-minute patch or a real expiration.

If Section 702 does lapse, the immediate hit would be to the government’s ability to keep using that specific legal framework to target foreigners overseas and to renew the certifications that authorize those collection programs. The intelligence community says that is not the same as a total blackout. Other surveillance authorities remain on the books, and the debate has also centered on whether preexisting court-approved certifications could keep operating temporarily while lawyers fight over the legal consequences of sunset.

The sharper risk is in the gaps that would emerge around counterterrorism, cyber monitoring and foreign intelligence collection tied to overseas targets. Supporters say Section 702 is one of the most important tools for tracking foreign threats that can incidentally capture Americans’ communications. Opponents counter that those incidental collections have fueled repeated abuse, especially when agencies search U.S.-person data. The Brennan Center says the FBI conducted 5,518 U.S.-person queries in 2024, a figure that has sharpened demands for tighter limits.

Congress tried to answer some of those complaints in RISAA. The overhaul expanded foreign intelligence to include information on the international production, distribution and financing of illicit drugs, required annual FBI query training, and added enhanced oversight for sensitive queries involving political actors, media and religious organizations. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in its April 1 transparency report that the number of Section 702 targets rose again, while U.S.-person query terms used by the NSA, CIA and National Counterterrorism Center stayed relatively steady. ODNI also said the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court issued three Section 702 orders in the period, including renewal certifications approved on March 18, 2025 and a new counternarcotics certification approved on April 9 after a denial order on February 20. The policy fight is now less about whether the authority matters than about how much risk Congress is willing to accept if it lets the clock run out.