7. Intelligence Community · Major · Needs Congress

Preserve FISA Section 702 as an essential intelligence tool

Reversed

Printed page 215 7. Intelligence Community

“While this authority may lapse if Congress does not resolve the issue by the end of 2023, Section 702 should be understood as an essential tool in the fight against terrorism, malicious cyber actors, and Chinese espionage.”

What has happened

Jun 12, 2026 Reversed
Section 702 lapsed on the statutory repeal date after the House rejected a further extension (H.R. 9238, suspension vote failed 198-218 on 2026-06-11) — the first lapse since 2008. The authority the Mandate asked to preserve is gone: what continues is collection under FISC certifications issued before the lapse, which run about a year (to roughly April 2027) and cannot be renewed while the statute is repealed. That wind-down does not keep the ask half-met — the statute either stands or it does not — so this is a reversal, not a partial. No reauthorization had passed either chamber by 2026-08-26.
- Public Law 119-87, section 1(a): title VII repeal date set at June 12, 2026
  Primary Congress Apr 30, 2026
- FISA 702, a key U.S. spy tool, has lapsed. Now what? (NPR)
  Secondary Congress Jun 12, 2026
Apr 30, 2026 Done
A second short extension, P.L. 119-87 (S. 4465), moved the Title VII repeal date from 2026-04-30 to 2026-06-12; passed the Senate by voice vote and the House 261-111 the same day. No substantive reform text, but the authority the Mandate asked to preserve remained in force.
- Public Law 119-87 — extending the authorities of title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (to June 12, 2026) (S. 4465)
  Primary Congress Apr 30, 2026
Apr 18, 2026 Done
The ask is to preserve Section 702, and it stayed in force: Congress passed and the President signed P.L. 119-84, a two-week extension of FISA Title VII from its 2026-04-20 sunset to 2026-04-30, while reform talks continued. A preserve-or-continue ask is met for as long as the authority continues, however short the extension that carries it.
- Public Law 119-84 — extending the authorities of title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act through April 30, 2026 (H.R. 8322)
  Primary Congress Apr 18, 2026

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

The Mandate wrote before the April 2024 reauthorization (RISAA, P.L. 118-49), which set the 2026-04-20 sunset. Everything in the window is about that sunset.
H.R. 9238 (failed 198-218 under suspension, 2026-06-11): recorded in the latest action for the bill in congress.gov’s bill records; the govinfo page https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr9238/html/BILLS-119hr9238.htm loads only a generic title, so the vote is carried in the note, not as Evidence. H.R. 8035 (extension to 2027-10-20 with reforms) failed its rule on 2026-04-17.
CRS Legal Sidebar LSB11444, “The Impact of FISA Section 702’s Repeal” (https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/LSB11444): the congress.gov page refused to open for us — lead. Its search snippet confirms the 2026-06-12 repeal under P.L. 119-87.
The NPR article was loaded by title and publication date only; the page could not be read in full. Its body — that collection continues under certifications — is drawn from the search snippet and CRS snippet, not from the article itself.
Bills introduced after the lapse (S. 4760, S. 4764, 2026-06-11) had no action beyond referral as of 2026-08-26, when the bill records were last fetched.

Action: reinstate
Object: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
ID: 568