Why the national security community wants FISA reauthorized [Video]

Congress is facing another deadline. This time, lawmakers are trying to reauthorize an intelligence capability that advocates call an “essential tool in the war on terror.”

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, has been around since 1978. Section 702 of FISA was enacted after 9/11 with the goal of making it easier for the government to monitor foreign threats around the world.

The National Security Agency says section 702 is “the most significant tool in the NSA collection arsenal for the detection, identification, and disruption of terrorist threats.” In 2022, it was used to collect the electronic communications, like emails, phone calls and texts, of nearly 250,000 foreigners.

“The information goes into the president’s intelligence daily briefing. About 65% of that material comes from 702 collections. The idea that we would let that expire would be the height of national security irresponsibility,” explained Sen. Mark Warner, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

But …