Speaker Johnson Unveils Third FISA 702 Reauthorization Plan as April 30 Expiry Looms; Conservative Revolt Complicates Vote

House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled his third proposal to reauthorize FISA Section 702 as the surveillance program faced its April 30 expiry deadline after two previous failed reauthorization votes. FISA 702 allows US intelligence agencies to intercept electronic communications of foreign nationals outside the United States; approximately 350,000 foreign targets are monitored, and some communications with Americans are incidentally captured and become available to the federal government. Conservative hardliners, led by former Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), had torpedoed Johnson's earlier attempts; Perry stated 'we're not there yet' on the revised proposal. NSA General Counsel Glenn Gerstell assessed that Johnson's third proposal included 'some gestures' toward privacy and civil liberties but 'not a lot of really substantive changes.' The program's intelligence value — particularly for monitoring Iranian and Chinese communications — had been cited by national security officials as critical to ongoing Iran war targeting operations. Without reauthorization by April 30, Section 702 would lapse, creating an intelligence gap that the Trump administration warned could affect real-time Iran war operations. Johnson's thin House majority complicated the path to passage.