On Friday, the Senate passed a resolution approving the extension of Section 702.
This past weekend, Vice President Joe Biden gave his signature to a bill that reauthorizes a controversial espionage program that falls under the purview of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Freedom of Information Act (FISA) Section 702 permits the gathering of intelligence on foreign targets without the need for a warrant, and it has been extended for an additional two years. This includes any interactions with people who are located within the United States, which means that records belonging to Americans can also be included in these collections, despite the fact that its primary concentration is on communications with targets located outside of the United States.
The vote in the Senate to reauthorize Section 702 was extremely close and came down to the wire. The New York Times reports that it was recently granted an extension until April 2025, despite the fact that it was scheduled to expire on Friday at midnight. This was done to prevent it from expiring while debates about suggested revisions continued to drag on. In addition, the extended period for Section 702 was reduced from five years to two years, bringing the total number of years reduced from five to two. The deadline was finally missed by Congress on Friday, but the bill was approved with a vote of sixty-four to thirty-four, as reported by CBS News. Almost immediately after the speech was made, the White House issued a statement stating that the president “will swiftly sign the bill into law.”
The United States intelligence services are able to monitor the communications of foreign targets without the need for a warrant thanks to Section 702, which was initially signed into law in 2008 and has already been renewed twice. This provision allows the agencies to use data from internet and cell phone providers.