Domestic surveillance fears loom over Congress debate to renew spying power

"While the authority is legally limited to foreign intelligence, it can sweep in Americans' texts, emails and phone calls when they communicate with overseas targets. Those incidental collections - which have sometimes been followed by unauthorized searches of Americans' communications - have been extensively documented by government oversight bodies in recent years. The findings fueled reforms adopted when Congress last renewed the authority in April 2024."

"A series of Trump administration moves in recent months, namely broad national security orders focused on tracking alleged domestic terrorism and aggressive immigration enforcement backed by vast swaths of surveillance technologies, are top of mind. Taken together, aides say, the developments risk pushing a foreign intelligence authority designed for overseas threats closer to domestic law enforcement and immigration use cases."

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lets spy agencies collect communications of non‑U.S. persons located abroad without a warrant. The authority is limited to foreign intelligence but can sweep in Americans' texts, emails and phone calls when they communicate with overseas targets. Incidental collections have sometimes been followed by unauthorized searches of Americans' communications and have been documented by government oversight bodies. Reforms were adopted when Congress renewed the authority in April 2024. The reauthorization debate is affected by recent Trump administration national security orders and aggressive immigration enforcement using broad surveillance, raising concerns the foreign intelligence tool could be used domestically. Some lawmakers and civil liberties groups call for warrants for searches of 702-derived data that include U.S. persons.

Read at Nextgov.com