Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

7. Intelligence Community · Major · Needs Congress

Reform accountability of DOJ and the FISA Court

Partially done

216 7. Intelligence Community

“Reforms to improve the accountability of the Justice Department and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.”

What has happened

  1. Partially done

    Congress enacted the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 as Division F of the FY2026 NDAA (P.L. 119-60). Its Subtitle C on the Federal Bureau of Investigation delivers the Justice Department half of the ask: new section 518 of the National Security Act (§6521) requires the FBI Director to notify the intelligence and judiciary committees and the four congressional leaders, within 15 days, of every counterintelligence assessment or investigation of a candidate for or holder of federal office; §6522 requires notice of material changes to the terrorist and transnational-organized-crime watchlist policies; §6523 an annual report on U.S. persons on the terrorist watch list; and §6524 (new section 512A) an annual report on FBI case data broken out by category. Nothing in the Act touches the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — the phrase does not appear in the law — so the second half of the ask is untouched. This ask is open-ended — "reforms to improve the accountability" — so enacting some of them is `partial`; the companion ask #572 names a specific instrument, an express prohibition on politically motivated use of intelligence authorities, which the same Act does not enact, so it stays `not-started`.

Research log

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

Research notes

  • The FBI accountability provisions above are the only enacted movement. The 2026 FISA sunset produced only clean short extensions (P.L. 119-84, P.L. 119-87 — see #568); the reform vehicles H.R. 8035 and H.R. 9238 failed on the House floor (2026-04-17 rule; 2026-06-11 suspension 198-218), and the Senate reform bills S. 4738, S. 4739 and S. 4740 (FISA transparency) were introduced 2026-06-10 and referred to the Intelligence Committee with no further action as of 2026-08-26, when the bill records were last fetched (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119s4740/html/BILLS-119s4740.htm — lead). S. 3696, “FISA Accountability and Extension Act of 2026” (2026-01-27, referred to Judiciary; https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119s3696/html/BILLS-119s3696.htm), is the closest-named bill — introduced only.
  • Nothing reaches the FISA Court. “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court” appears nowhere in P.L. 119-60, nor in the FY2026 appropriations acts P.L. 119-74 (Commerce-Justice-Science) or P.L. 119-75 (Consolidated), whose enrolled texts were read for the phrase (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ74/html/PLAW-119publ74.htm, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ75/html/PLAW-119publ75.htm). The next Intelligence Authorization Act (FY2027) is reported but unpassed in both chambers: S. 4615 reported 2026-08-05, H.R. 9624 ordered reported 2026-07-20.
  • Searched: bills in Congress and public laws, from congress.gov, for “foreign intelligence surveillance court”, “FISA”, “section 702”, “intelligence authorization”; congress.gov actions for S. 4465 and H.R. 8322; the enrolled text of P.L. 119-87 (one section, dates only) and of P.L. 119-60, 119-74, 119-75.
  • Overlaps #572 (statutory prohibition on political use) — same law, logged in both. #572 stays not started because the instrument it names (an express prohibition) was not enacted; this ask is open-ended (“reforms to improve the accountability”), and part of it was.
Action
other
Object
Accountability of the Justice Department and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
ID
573