The White House is being implored to step in and help Congress extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after negotiations have been upended by President Donald Trump’s appointment of housing finance guru Bill Pulte as the nation’s spy chief.
Fresh from Republican blowback over the White House’s proposed $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund, the Trump administration is now facing pushback before next week’s June 12 deadline to reauthorize FISA, a tool used to surveil foreign nationals overseas without a warrant.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), a member of the Senate intelligence committee, encouraged the White House to get engaged to head off the trouble.
“The executive branch needs to assist us because we need to get 702 through and complete it,” Rounds told the Washington Examiner. “If this is in the way or is going to hold it up because of Democrat opposition, public Democrat opposition, I think we’re going to need the White House or the executive branch to get involved in helping us address the issue.”
FISA has long been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for concerns that it captures the data and records of U.S. citizens who come into contact with foreign suspects surveilled by the government. Yet, Pulte’s appointment is magnifying those concerns, especially for Democrats. They note that Pulte has used his tenure as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make criminal referrals against Trump political opponents for allegations of mortgage fraud.
“It appears that he has used his position, his government position in the past in order to weaponize government against Trump’s perceived enemies — that’s not the role of the director,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “The role should be to serve the American people and help keep us safe.”
Some Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), are pledging to oppose an extension of FISA if Pulte remains in the post.
Opposition from Democrats could prove pivotal, given that prior efforts to extend the program have faltered in the House over opposition from hardline Republicans, who want a warrant requirement before intelligence agencies can access the data of American citizens. Bipartisan support would also be needed in the Senate, where FISA’s renewal would require the support of at least seven Democrats to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
National security experts, however, question the wisdom of the strategy given that the United States is engaged in hostilities with Iran and that FISA is vital for the protection of the homeland.
“As a rule of thumb, we should not help terrorists succeed in mass murdering Americans by blindfolding the intelligence community,” said Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Oversight, checks and balances? Yes, absolutely. Cutting off the flow of intelligence and inviting another 9/11? Definitely not.”
The White House echoed the sentiment in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“Bill Pulte is a great selection and he will do a great job on behalf of the American people,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said. “Holding FISA hostage puts America’s national security at risk and it is shameful that some Democrats are threatening to put partisan politics ahead of the safety of the American people.”
But neither the White House nor Pulte responded to the request for comment from the Washington Examiner regarding what they had done or were planning to do with respect to encouraging support for Pulte or Section 702’s reauthorization.
Complicating matters is that several members of the House and Senate intelligence committees have not yet met or spoken with Pulte.
“Never met him in my life,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), a former FBI supervisory special agent and member of the House intelligence committee, told the Washington Examiner. “That’s part of the problem. I’m a career [intelligence community] guy. Never met him before.”
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Even House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AR) had not met or spoken with Pulte as of Wednesday.
“I imagine at some point in time,” Crawford told the Washington Examiner. “I’ve never met him, so I don’t know when I’ll have the opportunity to do that.”
Christian Datoc and Lauren Green contributed to this report.