{"id":390,"date":"2026-06-11T23:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=390"},"modified":"2026-06-11T23:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:16:28","slug":"lawmakers-dont-know-what-will-happen-when-fisa-goes-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=390","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Don’t Know What Will Happen When FISA Goes Dark"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A critical spy powers program is set to go dark Saturday after Congress failed to reauthorize the initiative, which is seen as essential to U.S. surveillance abroad.<\/p>\n

Read more National Mall Vandalized With Giant Message Reading \u201886 47\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The expected lapse comes after Democratic lawmakers refused to back a short-term extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act program on Thursday over concerns about President Donald Trump\u2019s move to install Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as interim director of national intelligence. He has been criticized by both parties as a partisan with no intelligence background.<\/p>\n

The move followed months of debate over FISA\u2019s Section 702 surveillance program, which has long been controversial in both parties and requires some bipartisan support to reauthorize.. The National Security Agency says that intelligence derived from the program accounts for more than half of the president\u2019s daily briefing and is integral to the country\u2019s counterterrorism posture.<\/p>\n

Trump took steps that could quiet the rancor over Pulte by nominating former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton as his permanent intelligence director on Thursday afternoon. But his announcement came after House members had left the building for a weeklong recess with no action expected in the lower chamberon FISA until they return the week of June 23.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers are split on the consequences of a pause. The program was recertified in March by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, allowing FISA to continue collecting information under the law for one year. But it\u2019s unclear whether the program will retain its full capabilities while operating without reauthorization from Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this whole legal debate that we\u2019ve been sort of thinking about academically for a long time, which is: Can the program survive under the judicial certification?\u201d Rep. Jim Himes (D-Connecticut), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters Thursday. \u201cI have never wanted to test that, but we may end up testing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has led opposition to renewing the measure, told reporters Thursday that without reauthorization, companies that share information such as phone records with the government could choose to opt out of the program.<\/p>\n

\u201dWe were told [during the last cycle] that the communication providers, the telcos, Googles, and the others, if they don\u2019t carry the indemnification that the law provides them, they won\u2019t provide this information. We don\u2019t know the answer, but it is obviously a high-risk proposition,\u201d Warner explained.<\/p>\n

Warner also cautioned that the administration will not be able to open any new \u201corders\u201d under the program, even if current operations remain in practice. That means the government would not be able to introduce new surveillance measures ahead of upcoming high-profile public events in the U.S., including the World Cup and the Great American State Fair. And, the hold comes in the midst of the Trump administration\u2019s war with Iran.<\/p>\n

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) emphasized Warner\u2019s point, saying that a lapse in the program won\u2019t end American surveillance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of our intelligence gathering, we\u2019ve got 1000s of certifications that have already been approved that last a long time, so those will all continue,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cWe won\u2019t be able to do new certifications, but it\u2019s not like that will be the end of our ability to surveil foreign terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida), who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, told NOTUS that the panel has reviewed information through FISA that is \u201cvery important.\u201d He said he\u2019s open to any options Trump could use to extend the program, including by an executive order \u2013\u2013 an idea that\u2019s been floated by a number of House Republicans.<\/p>\n

Read more The Trump Administration Keeps Ghosting Its Congressional Watchdog<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMy guess is the agencies will use that court as the authority to continue to collect until Congress can get their act together,\u201d Steube said. \u201cIf I was an agency head, I would be relying upon that and saying we\u2019re gonna continue to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But other lawmakers continued to sound the alarm around high-profile events. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) told reporters that the public nature of the law expiring presents a significant security challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the soccer tournament coming up, a lot of people coming from around the world, there\u2019s heightened alert,\u201d Barrasso said. \u201cPlus the fact that the deadline date is today, that alerts our enemies that they can come at us. They\u2019re always probing, and we know that they\u2019re looking for ways to get in.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least one House moderate was critical of the president\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is America weakening itself unilaterally, making ourselves more vulnerable because of hyper partisanship,\u201d Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) told NOTUS. \u201cThe president made an error by submitting Pulte, because that\u2019s given a low-hanging fruit of an excuse for the Democrats to oppose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada), who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security, also said that any lapse in a surveillance program constitutes a huge disruption for national security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think it\u2019s an important tool, then it\u2019s like, well, it\u2019s not like a light switch \u2013\u2013 \u2018oh, we\u2019re turning that on, we\u2019re turning it off,\u2019\u201d Amodei said. \u201cIt needs to be kind of like the power supply: constant and reliable for their operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The path to full reauthorization in Congress also remains murky. House Democratic leadership contends that little changes in their opposition to the FISA extension as long as Pulte serves as the national intelligence director \u2013\u2013 even in a short-term capacity. Warner said Senate Democrats have the same stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I am glad to see the president finally come to his senses, before the Senate can take up a FISA extension there needs to be a clear guarantee that Mr. Pulte will not serve as acting DNI,\u201d Warner said in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday that Republican leadership will try to move on Clayton\u2019s nomination as quickly as possible in order to get Section 702 across the finish line. Pulte is set to take over the post on June 19, and the Senate Intelligence committee will hold its confirmation hearing for Clayton on June 16. <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what realistic is, but we\u2019re going to probe the limits of it,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

Read more Sen. Rick Scott Allows Coast Guard Promotions to Resume Amid Disagreement with Shipbuilder<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Confusion grows after Congress fails to extend surveillance law ahead of high-profile security events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nLawmakers Don't Know What Will Happen When FISA Goes Dark - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=390\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawmakers Don't Know What Will Happen When FISA Goes Dark - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Confusion grows after Congress fails to extend surveillance law ahead of high-profile security events.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=390\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T23:16:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Lawmakers Don’t Know What Will Happen When FISA Goes Dark\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T23:16:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390\"},\"wordCount\":1093,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0643729d997b6eae73f6328748a6d995-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390\",\"name\":\"Lawmakers Don't Know What Will Happen When FISA Goes Dark - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0643729d997b6eae73f6328748a6d995-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T23:16:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=390#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0643729d997b6eae73f6328748a6d995-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0643729d997b6eae73f6328748a6d995-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Sen. 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