Section 702 of FISA

After the warrantless surveillance program begun in 2001 was revealed, Congress passed the temporary Protect America Act in August 2007 and then the FISA Amendments Act, signed July 10, 2008, which added Section 702. It lets the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence approve the targeting of non-Americans reasonably believed to be outside the United States to collect foreign intelligence, and compel U.S. phone and internet companies to help. The FISA Court reviews the program each year, approving the government's certifications and its targeting, minimization, and querying procedures, not individual targets.

The program covers more than 200,000 targets a year, and officials say it supplies a large share of the intelligence in the President's Daily Brief, on subjects from terrorism and cyberattacks to foreign governments and drug trafficking. Because targets communicate with Americans, those messages are collected too, and the FBI may search the data using Americans' names and identifiers. Court opinions and reviews found improper FBI searches, including on people involved in racial justice protests and the January 6 attack on the Capitol and on a member of Congress. The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act of April 2024 renewed the authority for two years with new limits on FBI searches, after an amendment to require warrants for searches of Americans failed on a 212 to 212 tie in the House.

In 2026 Congress passed only a short extension in the spring, the House rejected a further extension on June 11, and the statutory authority lapsed on June 12, 2026, for the first time since 2008. Collection continued under certifications the FISA Court approved in March 2026, which run until March 17, 2027. A coalition of progressive and conservative members wants a warrant requirement for searches of Americans' communications, while intelligence officials and many national security lawmakers say warrants would slow urgent searches and that existing safeguards are enough.