{"id":13192,"date":"2026-06-08T17:01:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13192"},"modified":"2026-06-08T17:01:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:01:57","slug":"republican-senators-warn-surveillance-program-may-lapse-after-trump-intel-pick-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13192","title":{"rendered":"Republican senators warn surveillance program may lapse after Trump intel pick backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI, MARY CLARE JALONICK and ERIC TUCKER<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Republicans are warning the White House that a critical surveillance authority is likely to lapse this week amid bipartisan backlash over President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the nation\u2019s intelligence community.<\/p>\n

Read more Amid Trump immigration crackdown, NYC schools use comic books to teach kids their rights<\/a><\/p>\n

Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sounded the alarm over the weekend after a failed procedural vote to extend the program.<\/p>\n

The senators in a letter urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prepare \u201cfor a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection\u201d if the authority expires. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, set to lapse June 12, allows agencies including the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant.<\/p>\n

Efforts to secure a long-term extension of the program already faced hurdles because of bipartisan concerns that the program can incidentally collect Americans\u2019 communications. Privacy advocates and some lawmakers have been pushing to create a new warrant requirement before those communications can be searched.<\/p>\n

Senate leaders from both parties appeared to be nearing agreement on a long-term extension. But the effort collapsed after Trump selected federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how important this tool is. Why the president would throw this live hand grenade of Bill Pulte in 10 days before this is due to expire, I\u2019m not sure,\u201d Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulte pick upends bipartisan deal<\/h4>\n

Early Friday morning, after senators spent the night debating separate immigration legislation, seven Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in blocking a long-term extension of the surveillance authority.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Democrats and several Republicans registered their opposition to Trump\u2019s selection of Pulte, arguing the federal housing finance regulator lacks the experience needed to oversee the nation\u2019s 18 intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe naming of Pulte to that position, although the timing arguably wasn\u2019t the best, I still don\u2019t think it ought to derail something that\u2019s this important,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.<\/p>\n

Thune has expressed concern over Pulte\u2019s pick, saying the nation\u2019s top intelligence post should not be \u201cweaponized\u201d and that the job should be filled by \u201cprofessionals.\u201d Cotton, who rarely strays from supporting Trump and a leading advocate for the surveillance authority, declined to endorse Pulte, saying only that he had \u201cno observations on the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not qualified for the long-term position,\u201d Republican Sen. James Lankford, another member of the Intelligence Committee, told \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s been clear on this. He has no national security background.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Both Republican and Democratic senators skeptical of Pulte pointed to his record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the role, he\u2019s been linked with criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n

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Republicans will need to garner some Democratic support to pass any extension of the surveillance authority in the Senate. But a breakthrough appears difficult so long as Pulte remains in the position, which Trump said last week would only be temporary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see any path to convincing enough Democrats,\u201d Warner said on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union\u201d when asked if renewal was possible with Pulte in the position.<\/p>\n

A key surveillance tool<\/h4>\n

The current reauthorization debate is hardly the first time that lawmakers have grappled with the fate of the surveillance program, particularly after a flurry of revelations about government misuse of the vast trove of intelligence it collects.<\/p>\n

The topic in recent years has scrambled predictable partisan alliances, with Democratic critics of the Trump administration uniting with skeptics of government power on the right in voicing concerns about Section 702\u2019s renewal.<\/p>\n

In 2024, for instance, those divisions nearly caused the program to lapse. The Senate barely missed its midnight deadline that year before approving by a 60-34 margin legislation to reauthorize Section 702 that was subsequently signed by then-President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson at the Justice Department did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday about the national security concerns that would be created if the program lapses. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred inquiries to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica faces real threats from foreign adversaries, terrorists, cyber actors, and hostile intelligence services,\u201d Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media Sunday. \u201cSection 702 remains one of our nation\u2019s most effective tools for identifying and disrupting those threats before they reach our shores.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cotton and Grassley said they believed Democratic leaders would not support another short-term extension of the surveillance authority and urged Rubio to prepare contingency plans. They said Trump should consider an executive order to prevent a disruption in intelligence collection.<\/p>\n

Cotton and Warner had said they were close on a bipartisan deal on a long-term extension and could still move quickly should a change occur before Friday. Still, the bill would likely need to go through the House \u2014 and the two chambers so far have disagreed on a separate issue regarding central banking digital currency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we go dark next week, right before the World Cup FIFA games, and the 250th anniversary, that would be the most grossly irresponsible thing I\u2019ve seen Congress do in my 22 years in office,\u201d Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul said on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Senators are warning that a key U.S. surveillance authority could expire this week after bipartisan opposition to President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the nation\u2019s intelligence community derailed an extension effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublican senators warn surveillance program may lapse after Trump intel pick backlash - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13192\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republican senators warn surveillance program may lapse after Trump intel pick backlash - 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