Trump to meet House speaker as pressure mounts over surveillance law deadline
Summary
President Donald Trump plans to meet House Speaker Mike Johnson as pressure grows to name a permanent director of national intelligence. This move is seen by some Republicans as necessary to save a key surveillance law called section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before it expires at the end of the week.Key Facts
- Section 702 allows US intelligence agencies to collect communications from foreign targets without a court warrant but can also collect some American communications.
- The surveillance law is set to expire at midnight on Thursday but a court order allows collection to continue until about March 2027.
- President Trump recently appointed Bill Pulte, who has no intelligence background, as acting director of national intelligence.
- This appointment disrupted a bipartisan Senate deal to renew the surveillance law.
- Most Senate Democrats and some Republicans have blocked the renewal bill over civil liberties concerns.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune said naming a permanent director acceptable to some Democrats is the most likely way to break the deadlock.
- Senators Tom Cotton and Chuck Grassley warned about a significant loss of intelligence without the law’s renewal and urged preparation for possible gaps.
- The White House is considering reducing or abolishing the office of the director of national intelligence altogether.
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