Hopes Dim for Renewing Spy Law as Trump Digs In

New York Times: “Hopes were fading on Wednesday for a breakthrough in Congress to salvage a warrantless surveillance law before its expiration this weekend, after President Trump dug in on naming a close ally who has alienated members of both parties to a top intelligence post.”

“Unless lawmakers act by midnight on Friday, the law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, will sunset. It is the legal underpinning for what is widely considered to be the most powerful surveillance tool the federal government has at its disposal, credited with generating intelligence that thwarts terror plots, defangs foreign hackers, curtails drug trafficking and gleans key insights for policymakers about chief rivals like China and Russia.”