Johnson Unveils 3-Year FISA 702 Plan as April 30 Deadline Looms

A critical U.S. intelligence authority faces expiration in days. Without renewal, officials warn, the government could lose access to foreign communications that have thwarted terrorist plots and other threats. Yet the program also sweeps up Americans' messages, texts and calls without warrants, feeding a database that the FBI has searched hundreds of thousands of times in ways courts later deemed improper.

That tension defined last week's chaotic House votes. Speaker Mike Johnson first advanced a five-year reauthorization with limited changes, then an 18-month version. Both failed on procedural motions after roughly 20 Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in opposition, according to congressional records. Lawmakers instead passed a 10-day extension by unanimous consent, shifting the deadline to April 30 and buying time for negotiations. On Thursday Johnson released a revised three-year bill that adds monthly reporting requirements for FBI queries of Americans' data, increases criminal penalties for willful misuse and mandates extra training. It stops short of the warrant requirement demanded by privacy advocates.

Section 702, added to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2008, lets intelligence agencies target non-U.S. persons abroad believed to be involved in terrorism or national security threats. The program cannot deliberately target Americans or anyone inside the United States. Communications incidentally collected when targets contact U.S. persons are stored for up to five years and can be queried by the FBI, CIA and NSA. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court oversees the program through classified proceedings in which only the government typically participates.

Declassified court filings show the FBI ran more than 278,000 queries on U.S. persons' data between 2020 and early 2022 that violated rules or were later deemed non-compliant, a period the court described as featuring "persistent and widespread" problems. The bureau must now obtain supervisor or attorney approval for most such searches and is barred from using them for ordinary criminal investigations. Annual training is required. Privacy advocates, including the Brennan Center's Elizabeth Goitein and Rep. Jamie Raskin, argue these internal checks are insufficient and that the Fourth Amendment demands judicial warrants before agents review Americans' communications.

National security officials counter that adding a warrant process would slow legitimate investigations and risk missing threats. Former NSA general counsel Glenn Gerstell described Johnson's latest tweaks as modest gestures toward privacy without undermining operational needs. President Trump, who once posted that lawmakers should "KILL FISA" over its prior use against his campaign under a different authority, now supports renewal. "I am willing to risk the giving up of my Rights and Privileges as a Citizen for our Great Military and Country," he wrote on Truth Social, citing military leaders who say the program has prevented attacks.

Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul have insisted on a warrant requirement. Sen. Ron Wyden has warned of a still-classified legal interpretation of the program that he says would stun the public if revealed; that assertion could not be independently verified in open sources. Bipartisan talks continue. Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said negotiations with Johnson and others aim for an inclusive process. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet Monday.

The central unresolved question remains whether Congress will insist on stronger curbs, accept Johnson's adjustments or risk a lapse. Intelligence officials have told lawmakers the program is vital; civil libertarians counter that repeated compliance failures show the status quo is unsustainable. A reader who follows only the partisan coverage would miss how both the documented overreach and the program's foreign-intelligence yield sit on the same ledger. The coming week will test whether lawmakers can reconcile them before the clock runs out.