(today)

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently started convening an informal team of representatives from a handful of relevant spy agencies to study, and potentially plot a course for, the reauthorization of the sweeping warrantless program allowed under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, two sources familiar with the effort told The Record. The powers are due to sunset in December 2023 unless lawmakers act.

Congress last extended the life of the surveillance powers — which allow the federal government to collect the emails and electronic communications of foreign intelligence targets from U.S. companies like Google, but also incidentally vacuum up the personal data of Americans — in early 2018.