Controversial FISA spying law expires tonight. The spying will continue.
Controversial FISA spying law expires tonight. The spying will continue.
备受争议的《外国情报监视法》（FISA）今晚到期，但监视活动仍将继续。
Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is set to expire at midnight tonight after Congress failed to pass an extension of the controversial spying law. But that doesn’t mean the government’s spying powers will disappear. 《外国情报监视法》（FISA）第七章定于今晚午夜到期，此前国会未能通过这项备受争议的监视法案的延期。但这并不意味着政府的监视权力会随之消失。
Surveillance under Section 702 of FISA “operates under yearlong certifications approved by the FISA Court,” the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law explained this week. The current certification will remain in place until March 2027 under the yearlong certification issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on March 17, 2026. 纽约大学法学院布伦南司法中心本周解释称，根据 FISA 第 702 条进行的监视“是在 FISA 法院批准的年度认证下运作的”。根据外国情报监视法院于 2026 年 3 月 17 日签发的年度认证，当前的认证将持续有效至 2027 年 3 月。
“In order to pressure members to accept a bill without meaningful reforms, surveillance hawks are claiming that Section 702 surveillance will ‘go dark’ on June 12 if Congress hasn’t renewed the law,” the Brennan Center said. “Contrary to that claim, Congress planned for potential lapses and made very clear that Section 702 surveillance may continue under existing certifications even if the statute sunsets. Members must not be fearmongered into passing a reauthorization without protecting Americans from warrantless government access to their private communications.” 布伦南中心表示：“为了迫使议员们接受一项没有实质性改革的法案，监视鹰派人士声称，如果国会不续签该法律，第 702 条监视活动将于 6 月 12 日‘陷入瘫痪’。与这种说法相反，国会曾预见到潜在的失效情况，并明确规定，即使法律失效，第 702 条的监视活动仍可在现有认证下继续进行。议员们绝不能被恐吓，在未能保护美国人免受政府无证获取私人通信的情况下通过重新授权。”
The Cato Institute concurs, with senior fellow Patrick Eddington writing that “Section 702 operates under annual programmatic certifications approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), together with the directives served on providers under them. Under the FISA Amendments Act’s transition provision, acquisitions authorized by certifications and directives in effect at the moment of sunset may continue until those certifications expire.” 卡托研究所对此表示赞同，其高级研究员帕特里克·埃丁顿（Patrick Eddington）写道：“第 702 条是在外国情报监视法院（FISC）批准的年度项目认证，以及随之向服务提供商下达的指令下运作的。根据《FISA 修正案》的过渡条款，在法律失效时已生效的认证和指令所授权的获取活动，可以持续到这些认证到期为止。”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said that “government surveillance activities will continue unchanged” after Friday, according to CBS News. “Everything that’s already been authorized and certified is already in motion, and current FISA authorizations will continue unaffected, at least through March 17, 2027,” he said. 据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）报道，众议员杰米·拉斯金（民主党，马里兰州）表示，周五之后“政府的监视活动将继续保持不变”。他说：“所有已经获得授权和认证的事项都已经启动，当前的 FISA 授权将继续不受影响，至少持续到 2027 年 3 月 17 日。”
Americans’ messages swept up in FISA surveillance
被卷入 FISA 监视的美国人信息
Title VII, including Section 702, was added to the FISA law in 2008. It was last reauthorized in 2024 when President Biden signed a bill to continue and expand warrantless surveillance under Section 702. 包括第 702 条在内的第七章于 2008 年被加入 FISA 法案。该法案上一次重新授权是在 2024 年，当时拜登总统签署了一项法案，旨在继续并扩大第 702 条下的无证监视。
“FISA Section 702 allows US intelligence agencies to spy on foreign targets without a warrant, but the practice constantly sweeps up the communications of Americans who are in contact with people outside of the country,” the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said yesterday. “It’s a loophole that government agencies have increasingly exploited to surveil Americans without having to obtain permission from the court.” 电子隐私信息中心（EPIC）昨天表示：“FISA 第 702 条允许美国情报机构在没有搜查令的情况下监视外国目标，但这种做法不断卷入与境外人员联系的美国人的通信。这是一个政府机构日益利用的漏洞，使他们无需获得法院许可即可监视美国人。”
In March, two Democrats and two Republicans opposed to the law’s broad spying authority introduced a bill to limit the government’s ability to obtain Americans’ private communications without a warrant. This week, lawmakers failed to pass even a short-term extension of FISA amid disputes over proposed surveillance reforms and President Trump choosing Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. 今年 3 月，两名民主党人和两名共和党人因反对该法案广泛的监视权力，提出了一项旨在限制政府在没有搜查令的情况下获取美国人私人通信能力的法案。本周，由于对拟议的监视改革存在争议，以及特朗普总统选择比尔·普尔特（Bill Pulte）担任国家情报代理总监，议员们甚至未能通过 FISA 的短期延期。
Pulte has no experience in national security; he previously led the Federal Housing Finance Agency and used the post to accuse Trump critics of mortgage fraud. While some Republicans have sought reforms of FISA, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Politico that “anybody who votes ‘no’ is casting a dangerous vote to put American lives at risk.” 普尔特在国家安全方面毫无经验；他此前曾领导联邦住房金融局，并利用该职位指控特朗普的批评者犯有抵押贷款欺诈罪。尽管一些共和党人寻求对 FISA 进行改革，但众议院多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯（共和党，路易斯安那州）告诉《政治报》（Politico）：“任何投‘反对票’的人都是在投下危险的一票，将美国人的生命置于危险之中。”
Arguments that surveillance efforts could suffer from the law’s expiration even before March 2027 require some speculation. As NPR writes, electronic communications service providers “will still be legally required to turn over material to intelligence agencies. Still, some lawmakers worry that the companies compelled to turn over communications may attempt to challenge the law in court, possibly leading to an indeterminately long window during which they stop providing intel.” 关于监视工作可能在 2027 年 3 月之前就因法律到期而受损的论点，需要一些推测。正如美国国家公共电台（NPR）所写，电子通信服务提供商“在法律上仍被要求向情报机构移交材料。尽管如此，一些议员担心，被迫移交通信信息的公司可能会试图在法庭上挑战该法律，这可能导致一段不确定长度的窗口期，期间他们会停止提供情报。”
FISA not the only US spying authority
FISA 并非美国唯一的监视授权
House members left for a recess after yesterday’s attempts to extend the law. No further House votes are expected until June 23. While there’s plenty of time between now and March 2027 to finalize a FISA extension, the Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that the government has other spying authority it can use even if no deal is struck. 在昨天尝试延长该法律失败后，众议院议员们进入了休会期。预计在 6 月 23 日之前不会再进行众议院投票。虽然从现在到 2027 年 3 月还有充足的时间来敲定 FISA 的延期，但电子前沿基金会（EFF）指出，即使没有达成协议，政府还有其他可以使用的监视授权。
“If Section 702 does stay expired past March 2027, the United States government will likely revert to using other programs and authorities to justify the surveillance of overseas national security targets, namely 12333, a shadowy executive order from the 1980s that gives the US government nearly unlimited power to spy on people overseas,” the EFF said. EFF 表示：“如果第 702 条在 2027 年 3 月之后确实保持失效状态，美国政府可能会转而使用其他项目和授权来证明对海外国家安全目标进行监视的合理性，即 12333 号行政令。这是一项来自 20 世纪 80 年代的隐秘行政令，赋予了美国政府近乎无限的权力来监视海外人员。”
Executive Order 12333 isn’t merely an alternative spying power, wrote Eddington, who focuses on homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato Institute. The order accounts for more intelligence than Section 702, he wrote. “The overwhelming bulk of overseas signals intelligence never depended on Section 702 in the first place,” Eddington wrote. “It runs under Executive Order 12333, the daily operating charter for the executive branch’s intelligence components, which requires no statute and no FISC order. A Title VII lapse removes not one 12333 collection platform.” 在卡托研究所专注于国土安全和公民自由的埃丁顿写道，12333 号行政令不仅仅是一种替代性的监视权力。他写道，该行政令所涵盖的情报量比第 702 条还要多。“绝大多数海外信号情报最初根本不依赖于第 702 条，”埃丁顿写道。“它是在 12333 号行政令下运行的，这是行政部门情报机构的日常运作章程，不需要任何法规，也不需要 FISC 的命令。第七章的失效不会移除任何一个 12333 号收集平台。”