from the it's-about-time dept

We have talked about the Wyden Siren many times before. Senator Ron Wyden learns, through classified briefings, that the intelligence community is doing something most Americans would consider a clear violation of their civil liberties — often justified by interpreting plain English words to mean something no other English speaker would recognize. But because that information is classified, he can’t just say what it is. So instead he sends a letter demanding that the intelligence community explain itself, carefully worded to tip off the public that the government is effectively lying about how it’s violating our civil liberties. He’s done it many times, from warning that the government had secretly reinterpreted the PATRIOT Act to flagging that supposed “cybersecurity” legislation was really being pushed for a more nefarious purpose.

This year alone, he’s issued Wyden Siren letters a few different times. And now he’s done so again, once again about Section 702 of the FISA Act, which has been a Wyden target for years. Wired has a summary:

Two Democratic senators who have long overseen US intelligence say the Trump administration is illegally withholding a secret court’s findings from Congress until lawmakers renew a program that lets federal agents read Americans’ communications without a warrant.

Seven months ago, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court objected to search filters that let intelligence analysts pull Americans’ messages from intercepted data without the approvals, written justifications, or records the law requires. The court approved another year of surveillance anyway. The ruling has never been made public, and Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Adam Schiff of California say the administration’s own deadline for releasing it passed in September.

The program, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), lapsed in June after Congress failed to renew it, though collection continues under the court’s March approval. The administration’s own public documentation says rulings like this one are reviewed for public release “within 180 days of issuance.” That window closed September 13, even as intelligence officials press lawmakers to reauthorize the program by the end of the year.

Wyden sounding the alarm is expected (and welcome). Schiff co-signing it is, however, a surprise. For many years when he was a Representative (prior to recently moving over to the Senate), Schiff was a reliable voice and vote for greater surveillance powers. He would frequently roll out his “as a former prosecutor” line to defend giving more and more power to the government.

Indeed, back in 2018, we called out Schiff (who was then the House ranking member on the Intel Committee) for giving Donald Trump greater surveillance powers in renewing Section 702. It was bizarre: Schiff was one of the loudest voices calling out Trump’s abuses of power during his first term, and yet he led the charge among Democrats to hand Trump even more surveillance power. He even undercut Wyden’s own attempts to rein in those powers, as Trevor Timm noted at the time in an op-ed blasting Democrats for handing Trump more surveillance power:

Schiff was a leading driver in the House to extend the NSA’s surveillance powers, and has been undercutting the more robust reforms proposed by other Democrats, like longtime Senate Intelligence Committee member Sen. Ron Wyden, for months.

Given that history, seeing Schiff co-sign a letter accusing the administration of illegally hiding a ruling about 702 abuses is quite the turnaround.

Indeed, Schiff even blasted out a press release talking about “serious abuses of American’s rights.” That’s quite a statement given how strongly Schiff fought to give those powers to the government.

The specifics here involve a secretive FISC ruling regarding Section 702. Technically 702 expired back in June, after Trump tried to tie its renewal to his ridiculous voting bill that no one is willing to pass. But back in March there was a secret ruling by the FISA Court which allows the government to keep using this surveillance authority at least until March of next year. That same ruling also objected to the search filters analysts use to pull Americans’ messages without the approvals and records the law requires — and then approved another year of surveillance anyway. Wyden and Schiff want it public, and the law is on their side: the statute requires either a declassified version within 180 days or if the DNI waives declassification by yelling “national security” then it requires an unclassified statement from the Attorney General summarizing the legal interpretation. And Attorney General Todd Blanche unequivocally promised the Senate Judiciary Committee that he would deliver the unclassified opinion by the deadline.

That deadline came and went on September 13. The ruling remains classified. From Wyden and Schiff’s letter:

We and others have repeatedly called for the administration to release the March FISC opinion. In May, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a letter to the administration stating their expectation that the opinion would be released by May 15 “in order to inform the Senate debate on section 702.” The statute itself requires the administration to release a declassified version of the opinion within 180 days. In July, Attorney General Blanche told the Senate Judiciary Committee he expected that the public release would happen “in advance of the statutory deadline.” Attorney General Blanche unequivocally committed to “declassifying the opinion by the statutory deadline of 180 days and complying with the law.” Nevertheless, it is now a month past the statutory deadline and the opinion has still not been released.

Simply put, this is not acceptable, especially as this administration restarts its attempts to lobby Congress to renew Section 702 without reforms. The administration has now had over seven months to declassify and release this opinion. It is time to stop violating the law and finally release this opinion. And if this administration won’t follow this simple statutory directive, it is unclear why Congress or the American people should trust this administration to follow any of the other legal limits to Section 702.

We demand that you release this opinion as soon as possible. We also request that you respond in writing by November 6, 2026, providing an explanation as to why the opinion was not released by the statutory deadline and identifying the officials that were responsible for withholding its timely release.

As Wired notes, Senators can read the ruling, but only in a secure room, and those who have done so are dropping heavy hints about what it reveals:

Lawmakers who have read the ruling hint that it says more. Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, urged colleagues on the Senate floor in June to read it in a secure room. “I have seen it,” he said. Once they did, he told them, “your opinion of the role of FISA and the rights of Americans will be impacted for sure.”

Wyden has also warned about a classified interpretation of Section 702 that he says multiple administrations have relied on and refused to declassify. “When it is eventually declassified,” he said in March, “the American people are going to be stunned that it took so long and that Congress had been debating this authority with insufficient information.”

Of course, the Trump administration seems to believe that laws are meaningless, especially if they require transparency or limit the government’s ability to abuse the rights of anyone in America. So don’t hold your breath waiting for Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to cough up this ruling. But as Wyden and Schiff point out, if the administration can’t be bothered to follow a simple disclosure deadline, why should anyone believe it’s respecting any of 702’s other limits while it begs Congress for a clean renewal?

Filed Under: adam schiff, declassification, fisa court, fisc, jay clayton, ron wyden, section 702, surveillance, todd blanche, wyden siren