Cybersecurity Policy Report, Congressional Efforts to Resurrect Surveillance Law Derailed by Trump, (Jun 17, 2026)

By Tom Leithauser

The reauthorization of an expired foreign surveillance law that’s widely viewed as critical to national security became a heavier lift for Congress today after a social media post by President Trump scrambled lawmakers’ negotiations.

Congressional leaders have been trying to reach consensus on proposed reforms to section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that would better protect Americans’ privacy.

Section 702, which expired Friday night after Congress failed to reauthorize it, empowers U.S. intelligence agencies, with the help of U.S. service providers, to monitor the communications of foreigners who are overseas and considered national security threats. However, Americans’ communications are often swept up in section 702 surveillance when they communicate with a foreign intelligence target, and those communications can be searched by federal authorities under certain circumstances without a warrant.

Opposition to the law’s reauthorization was fueled by Democrats and Republicans who want to require the government to obtain probable-cause warrants before accessing Americans’ communications collected under section 702.

President Trump had already complicated the reauthorization efforts by announcing on Monday that he wouldn’t support any reauthorization bill that didn’t include the provisions of the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require voters to show proof of citizenship (CPR, June 15).

The president reiterated that demand today in an early-morning social media post that also led to the cancellation of a planned hearing on his choice of Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to succeed Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence (DNI).

“I don’t want to take Jay Clayton away from the great job he is doing” as U.S. attorney until his proposed successor, James McDonald “is in place,” President Trump said. He called for the cancellation of a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that would have fast-tracked Mr. Clayton’s confirmation, and he said Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), would remain acting DNI.

Sen. Tom Cotton (D., Ark.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, at first said in a social media post that the committee would still hold Mr. Clayton’s hearing “unless the president directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination.” Later, after President Trump apparently told Mr. Clayton not to appear before the committee, Sen. Cotton changed course.

“It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today,” Sen. Cotton posted on X. “While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future.”

President Trump’s post “pulled the rug out from under his Republicans who were trying to find the path forward” on FISA reauthorization, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) told reporters today.

Sen. Schumer and other Senate Democrats expressed opposition to attaching the SAVE America Act to FISA reauthorization or allowing Bill Pulte to remain acting DNI. They noted that Mr. Pulte was unqualified to serve in the DNI role, which by law requires national security experience, and that Mr. Pulte had abused his FHFA post by searching federal housing data to identify potential mortgage fraud by President Trump’s opponents.

“Bill Pulte, to our knowledge, doesn’t even have a security clearance” and has shown a willingness “to take confidential information in terms of private mortgage information and weaponize it,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Democrats and Republicans “have been working in good faith to come to a compromise on a national security tool that’s critical,” Sen. Warner said, referring to FISA section 702.

“Even as Congress has tried to work together, the White House continues to move the goalposts. This is not good for our national security. It makes Americans less safe,” he added. “In terms of this debate, this is not Senate Democrats versus Senate Republicans. This is a careless White House—a president that is treating our national security with complete disdain and acting at a level of recklessness that puts Americans at risk.”

Sen. Warner noted, however, that U.S. communications service providers were continuing to help the U.S. intelligence community monitor the communications of foreign threats despite the expiration of FISA section 702. The surveillance program authorized by section 702 has federal court permission to continue operating through next March.

“The question is, without indemnification, will they still participate?” Sen. Warner asked. “I hope they don’t get to the point where they choose not to, and we don’t have this tool renewed.”

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