Trump's spy chiefs set December 9 deadline for Congress to reauthorize FISA Section 702

President Donald Trump's top administration intelligence officials have written to congressional leaders urging them to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

An administration official told Fox News Digital the intelligence measure is at the top of the White House's mind to get passed in the still Republican-controlled Congress before Democrats take a majority on Capitol Hill in January.

The administration source said this is going to be a huge priority and push by the administration and the White House for the lame-duck Congress, because it really needs to get done. The source said that otherwise the country would be in trouble from a national security standpoint.

The source stressed that the White House is fully on board with the push by the intelligence agencies' leaders asking Congress to reauthorize the law, including the controversial Section 702.

The letter, signed by Attorney General Todd Blanche, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, set a deadline of December 9, 2026, less than a month before the new Congress is sworn in.

Clayton and Ratcliffe briefed the Gang of 8 — members of Congress who are legally apprised of classified national security matters and covert operations by the executive branch — earlier this week about the status of FISA.

The letter says any delays beyond this date will risk this critical authority lapsing, putting the lives of Americans in the homeland and troops stationed abroad at risk in the heightened threat environment briefed to the Gang of 8 earlier this week.

The letter is addressed to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

The letter says Section 702 is the single most indispensable tool to keep the homeland and the American people safe. It says the provision enables the intelligence community to detect and disrupt terrorist plots, cyber intrusions and weapons proliferation, and that no other authority can replace it.

FISA's Section 702 has a controversial history. Privacy activists and constitutional scholars have long argued that Section 702 amounts to warrantless surveillance. Under Section 702, intelligence agencies can clandestinely collect the communications of Americans if they are speaking to foreigners who are targets of investigations.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence credits Section 702 with thwarting terrorist activities, including a mass-casualty terror attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, Austria, in 2024, and says 63 percent of the articles in Trump's daily brief contained FISA Section 702 information reported by the National Security Agency in 2025.

The letter explains that the statutory authority of Section 702 has lapsed, and that collection of such materials will expire on March 16 if FISA is not reauthorized. It says the December 9 congressional deadline to begin the renewal process will allow the intelligence agencies the necessary time to complete the steps for continued Section 702 collection before the March expiration date.

The letter states that to prevent a gap in critical intelligence and avoid putting the nation at risk, the government must start the 2027 renewal process by then. It adds that if collection stops, Section 702 cannot simply be turned back on, and that the administration looks forward to briefing Congress again in the coming days on the irreplaceable intelligence enabled by Section 702 and the dire risks to the nation if it is allowed to expire.

The ODNI, the Department of Justice and the White House did not return Fox News Digital's requests for comment.