By Evan Perez, Sean Lyngaas, CNN
(CNN) — For two hours inside a classified Congressional hearing last week, Republican and Democrat Senators grew increasingly exasperated as officials from the FBI, the National Security Agency and other agencies refused to say whether the Trump administration wants Congress to renew a powerful foreign surveillance law that is expiring soon, according to two people briefed on the hearing.
That law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allows authorized US officials to gather phone calls and text messages of foreign targets, but can also scoop up the data of Americans in the process.
That is a fact that irks some on the political left and right, but has yet to stop a renewal because of the widespread understanding that it’s a necessary national security tool.
The recent lack of answers from the Trump administration, however, has left some lawmakers with deep concerns about the administration’s national security policy priorities, and whether President Donald Trump’s push for retribution against the national security establishment is taking precedence over a core national security program.
The hearing should have been a routine stop for US officials to urge Congress to renew the 2008 statute. Senior national security officials have for years said Section 702 is critical to thwarting terror attacks, stemming the flow of fentanyl into the US and stopping ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure.
But Trump and his allies have long railed against FISA as a tool used to target his political campaigns and some of his political allies. And the FBI has admitted to misusing Section 702, including through the search for information on suspects in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot and people arrested at 2020 protests after the police killing of George Floyd.
The FBI declined to comment for this story. The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Section 702 has faced many obstacles to renewal before. It took the House of Representatives multiple tries to vote to reauthorize the statute in 2024 amid a fight over privacy measures.
The recent Senate intelligence committee hearing showed Republicans urging the Trump administration to take a stance on the surveillance tool, the people briefed told CNN.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican national security hawk who chairs the committee, pushed the agency representatives to take an official position, noting that for some members of Congress reauthorizing the law is a tough vote. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas expressed frustration as he tried multiple ways to squeeze an answer from the officials testifying, but ultimately could not get an answer, according to the people briefed.
“Chairman Cotton does not comment on closed SSCI hearings, but he always welcomes the administration’s views on any matter,” a Cotton spokesperson said in a statement.
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the comm