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section 702
Trump Openly Calls for 'Clean' Extension of Spying Power Opposed by Privacy Advocates
"We won't allow President Trump and Stephen Miller to continue invading our privacy," said the ACLU.
Mar 25, 2026
President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Wednesday to call for a "clean" extension of a key spying power as lawmakers across the political spectrum and privacy advocates throughout the United States demand reforms before Congress passes a reauthorization bill.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) empowers the US government to spy on electronic communications of noncitizens located outside the country, without a warrant. It expires April 20. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) planned to try to push through legislation this week, but he delayed it due to a lack of support.
Trump noted Wednesday that Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) have been working to pass a clean extension. He said that "when used properly, FISA is an effective tool to keep Americans safe," and called for reauthorizing the power for 18 months.
"HOWEVER, the Critical and Common Sense Reforms that were made in the last Reauthorization of FISA must remain intact to protect the American People from abuses. Nobody understands this better than me, as I was a victim of the worst and most illegal abuse of FISA in our Nation's History, by Radical Left Lunatics who lied to the FISA Court to spy on my 2016 Presidential Campaign in their attempt to RIG the Election in favor of Crooked Hillary Clinton," the president continued.
"That is why, since the first day of my already Historic Second Term, my Administration has worked tirelessly to ensure these Reforms are being aggressively executed at every level of the Executive Branch to keep Americans safe, while protecting their sacred Civil Liberties guaranteed by our Great Constitution," Trump claimed, before trying to use his war on Iran—which has not been authorized by Congress—to make the case for a swift reauthorization.
"With the ongoing successful Military activities against the Terrorist Iranian Regime, it is more important than ever that we remain vigilant, PROTECT our Homeland, Troops, and Diplomats stationed abroad, and maintain our ability to quickly stop bad actors seeking to cause harm to our People and our Country," he said. "The fact is, whether you like FISA or not, it is extremely important to our Military. I have spoken to many Generals about this, and they consider it vital. Not one said, even tacitly, that they can do without it—especially right now with our brilliant Military Operation in Iran."
The controversial law known as FISA Section 702 is up for renewal in Congress. It allows government to spy on Americans’ communications without a warrant.Use our action center to tell Congress to reform Section 702 and end mass warrantless surveillance!
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— Freedom of the Press Foundation (@freedom.press) March 22, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Sharing Trump's Truth post on the social media platform X, Politico's Jordain Carney noted that "he's been telling people for a while privately this is what he wants."
Carney and her colleagues reported last month that "Stephen Miller, the influential senior White House domestic policy adviser, is a leading advocate within the administration for extending the program that lets the government collect the data of noncitizens abroad without a warrant."
Critics of a clean extension have argued that, as more than 90 groups said in a letter earlier this month, "supporting Stephen Miller's warrantless surveillance agenda would be a massive detriment to the privacy and civil rights and liberties of people in the United States."
We won't allow President Trump and Stephen Miller to continue invading our privacy.Tell Congress to refuse to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which would expand the federal government's power to secretly spy on us.
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— ACLU (@aclu.org) March 24, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Section 702 was last reauthorized in April 2024, during the Biden administration. Many critics of the spying power were unsatisfied with that legislation, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA).
As India McKinney, director of federal affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote Friday:
It's important to note RISAA was just a reauthorization of this mass surveillance program with a long history of abuse. Prior to the 2024 reauthorization, Section 702 was already misused to run improper queries on peaceful protesters, federal and state lawmakers, congressional staff, thousands of campaign donors, journalists, and a judge reporting civil rights violations by local police. RISAA further expanded the government's authority by allowing it to compel a much larger group of people and providers into assisting with this surveillance. As we said when it passed, overall, RISAA is a travesty for Americans who deserve basic constitutional rights and privacy whether they are communicating with people and services inside or outside of the US.
In the Section 702 debates over the years, critical members of Congress and advocacy groups have specifically called for a warrant requirement for Americans and closing the data broker loophole that intelligence and law enforcement agencies use to buy their way around the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which is supposed to protect against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Reporting on the president's Wednesday push for a clean extension, The Hill highlighted that "Trump has gotten some notable lawmakers to move with him" on FISA, pointing to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a former leader of the chamber's oversight panel, who are both supporting a clean extension.
McKinney called Jordan's shift "disappointing," and argued that "Section 702 should not be reauthorized without any additional safeguards or oversight."
She pointed to three bills—the Government Surveillance Reform Act, Protect Liberty and End Warrentless Surveillance Act, and Security and Freedom Enhancement Act—that she said are not "perfect," but "are all significantly better than the status quo."
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Johnson Delays FISA Vote Amid Bipartisan Push for 'Major, Necessary' Privacy Reforms
"Republicans, Democrats, and independents all overwhelmingly want Congress to take serious action to protect privacy—in particular against AI and data brokers," said one campaigner.
Mar 20, 2026
With just a month until a key Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act spying power expires, US House Speaker Mike Johnson was planning to try to push through reauthorization legislation next week, but the Louisiana Republican leader is now reportedly delaying the vote while "still dealing with a dozen or so Republican members who want reforms."
Privacy advocates and lawmakers across the political spectrum have long called for reforms to FISA's Section 702, which empowers the US government to surveil electronic communications of noncitizens located outside the United States to acquire foreign intelligence information, without a warrant.
Citing three unnamed sources familiar with discussions in the House of Representatives, Politico reported Friday that "with a GOP hard-liner revolt over warrantless surveillance threatening to tank the legislation," Johnson "will instead work through the remaining issues over the upcoming two-week recess and try to put the extension on the floor the week of April 14."
Welcoming the development, Demand Progress executive director Sean Vitka said in a statement that "Speaker Johnson is backing away from his plan to ram through a FISA reauthorization vote next week because he knows his members don't want it and the American people don't want it."
"Republicans, Democrats, and independents all overwhelmingly want Congress to take serious action to protect privacy—in particular against AI and data brokers—and oppose any efforts to rubber-stamp the government's warrantless mass surveillance powers as is," Vitka continued.
"Before any vote on reauthorizing FISA," he added, "Congress must first enact real protections for Americans' privacy, in particular by closing the data broker loophole to prevent the government from circumventing the courts and independent oversight through the purchase of Americans' private location, web browsing, and other sensitive information."
Various bills, including the bipartisan Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act introduced last month by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), would close the loophole that agencies use to buy their way around the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which is supposed to protect Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Demand Progress has endorsed that bill, and on Thursday partnered with the Project On Government Oversight and over 130 other artificial intelligence and civil rights groups for a letter urging Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to impose "much-needed privacy protections against government agencies' warrantless mass surveillance of people in the United States."
President Donald Trump and his pro-spying deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, have fought for a "clean" reauthorization, but the GOP has slim majorities in both chambers of Congress. In the House, Johnson can only afford to lose two votes, and in the Senate, most bills require at least some Democratic support to get to the president's desk.
The conduct of Trump's second administration has fueled calls for reform. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a Thursday statement that "as the Trump administration continues to run roughshod over our Constitution, we cannot continue to give them a further opening to sacrifice our civil liberties in the name of national security. We cannot give Stephen Miller a blank check to conduct domestic surveillance in violation of the Fourth Amendment."
"I have been working on essential reforms to FISA across administrations, and I have not wavered—whether it is a Democratic or Republican president," she noted. "This has always been a bipartisan issue for good reason. Americans across political parties care deeply about privacy and not being surveilled. Congress has a duty to protect those fundamental constitutional liberties. Any attempt to push forward a 'clean' reauthorization of Section 702 will put our private, sensitive data at risk."
Jayapal stressed that "this Trump administration has been particularly brazen in its use of domestic surveillance to suppress our constitutional rights and dissent. In just the last six weeks, the administration has blacklisted Anthropic for refusing to stand down on its requirement that its technology not be used for the mass surveillance of Americans, and we learned that the Department of Justice surveilled me—and likely many other members—while reviewing the Epstein files, seeking justice for survivors."
"In Minnesota, federal immigration agents have surveilled and intimidated US citizens exercising their First Amendment rights to document agents' unlawful actions," the congresswoman noted. "It is time to reform FISA, ensure our Fourth Amendment protections are guaranteed, and stop the government surveillance of Americans."
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Rights and Tech Coalition Calls On Congress to End Warrantless Mass Surveillance
"The American people do not want the government to bypass the courts and buy our private information in bulk from data brokers."
Mar 19, 2026
With Republican leadership in the US House of Representatives aiming for "a straightforward extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, next week," a diverse coalition on Thursday renewed calls for Congress to impose "much-needed privacy protections against government agencies' warrantless mass surveillance of people in the United States."
Section 702 empowers the US government to spy on electronic communications of noncitizens located outside the United States to acquire foreign intelligence information, without a warrant. However, Americans' data is also collected, and advocates and lawmakers have long demanded reforms to the abused authority, which is set to expire next month unless reauthorized.
As President Donald Trump's White House—including Stephen Miller, his pro-spying deputy chief of staff—pushes for a "clean" reauthorization, 133 artificial intelligence, civil rights, and other progressive groups convened by Demand Progress and the Project On Government Oversight sent a Thursday letter to Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers of Congress.
The coalition's letter argues that "FISA's sunsets were designed to prompt Congress to consider privacy protections" and calls for "closing the data broker loophole" that intelligence and law enforcement agencies use to buy their way around the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which is supposed to protect Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures.
"Data brokers sell private information about all Americans, often surreptitiously obtaining that data from our phones and other internet-connected devices," the letter explains. "This information paints a mosaic of each and every American's life, which exposes where we sleep, what we believe, whom we vote for, and a staggering amount more."
The loophole "facilitates mass surveillance and circumvents FISA reforms Congress enacted in 2015 to prohibit domestic bulk data collection," the missive continues. Closing it "would ensure government agencies obtain judicial approval before buying information about people in the United States from data brokers if it would otherwise require a court order to seize."
"This would establish a critical legal process to protect privacy before such warrantlessly acquired information is fed into artificial intelligence surveillance systems, and help avert looming and unprecedented threats to Americans' civil liberties," it adds, citing a poll that shows 80% of Americans think the government should have to obtain a warrant before being able to buy such data.
The letter also highlights recent reporting from The New York Times that the US Department of Defense wants AI companies to "allow for the collection and analysis of unclassified, commercial bulk data on Americans, such as geolocation and web browsing data," and appears to have already secured one agreement that could permit any use the government deems lawful.
Demand Progress executive director Sean Vitka warned in a Thursday statement that "by rushing to renew FISA without any reforms, Congress is poised to allow AI companies and government agencies to supercharge mass domestic surveillance systems with our location and web browsing data—all without a warrant or any involvement from the courts."
"The American people do not want the government to bypass the courts and buy our private information in bulk from data brokers," Vitka stressed. "To protect Americans' privacy, our Fourth Amendment rights and the fundamental liberties that privacy protects, Congress must close the data broker loophole before renewing the government's surveillance power."
The letter—whose other signatories include the ACLU, Amnesty International US, Center for Democracy & Technology, Consumer Action, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future, Friends of the Earth US, MoveOn, No Tech for Apartheid, Peace Action, Progressive Democrats of America, Reporters Without Borders, and more—points out that "several already introduced pieces of legislation both reauthorize Section 702 and effectively close the data broker loophole."
Among them is the bipartisan Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act, introduced last month by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), and backed by organizations including Demand Progress.
"Section 702 is a valuable tool to help keep our nation safe," Durbin said at the time. "However, it's being used to conduct thousands of warrantless searches of Americans' private communications. That's unacceptable. Our bipartisan SAFE Act is a commonsense solution to continue protecting our country from foreign threats—while safeguarding Americans' civil liberties and privacy."
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