As Threat Level Reaches “Highest It’s Ever Been,” Trump Sidelines Key Counterterror Program 

Once upon a time, if Homeland Security warned that the terrorist threat level was the “highest it’s ever been,” government officials would scramble to assure the public that everything was being done. 

But when Secretary Markwayne Mullin delivered that exact warning five days ago on Fox News Sunday, the president was busy orchestrating the expiration of the law authorizing the government’s premier counterterrorist surveillance program: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA]. 

Section 702 allows American intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance targeting foreign suspects. While Americans cannot be targeted, phone and email communications between foreigners abroad and Americans can be intercepted, subject to that minimize the retention and dissemination of information collected on U.S. citizens. 

The warrantless element of the program, established in 2008, has long been attacked by civil libertarians on the left and right who are suspicious of government surveillance powers. Yet it has been reauthorized, with reforms, through Republican and Democratic presidential administrations with bipartisan congressional votes. Why? Because it works to prevent terrorist attacks. It also curtails drug trafficking and heavily contributes to the crucial President’s Daily Brief intelligence reports. And claims of abuse within the program have proven to be overblown. 

With the program needing reauthorization this year and debates over further reforms unresolved, Congress passed two short-term extensions in April. But the last one ended on June 12. 

President Donald Trump derailed a vote for a needed three-week extension after naming Bill Pulte to serve as acting Director of National Intelligence. Pulte, a lackey from the Federal Housing Finance Agency with zero national security experience, has been pursuing mortgage fraud charges against Trump’s political opponents. The grandson of the PulteGroup homebuilding company, at 38, the construction scion has been dubbed “Mini Trump.” Members of both parties have criticized the appointment, but Democrats in particular refuse to extend Section 702 if Pulte will have his mitts on the data. So, on June 11, 199 Democrats and 19 Republicans in the House rejected the temporary extension, and the law expired the following day. 

Also on June 11, Trump nominated U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to be the permanent Director of National Intelligence, a far more respected figure than Pulte. Congressional leaders pledged swift consideration, with a Senate hearing on June 17, and hopes brightened for Section 702’s renewal. Briefly.  

But on the morning of June 17, Trump blew everything up anew in a Truth Social post, saying he was “canceling the Senate Hearing” for Clayton until his replacement at the Southern District of New York was confirmed. With Clayton’s nomination delayed, Pulte is set to become Acting Director today. 

Trump also posted, “to add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it.” 

The Save America Act is the voter suppression bill that passed the House in February but won’t survive a certain Senate filibuster. The bill requires “documentary proof of United States citizenship”—such as a passport or birth certificate—for voter registration, something that many people don’t have on hand. (Only 51 percent of Americans have a valid passport.) Election workers who register a voter without such documentation could go to prison. There is no chance this bill will pass the Senate without scrapping the filibuster, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said he doesn’t have the votes to do.  

So, let’s be crystal clear about what is happening: Trump is playing futile political games with a critical counterterrorism program at a time when his own Homeland Security Secretary Mullin says the threat level is the “highest it’s ever been.” 

Before you get panicked about the prospect of a terrorist attack while surveillance operations are sidelined, the Section 702 program is still functioning. The law directs the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court the power to issue year-long certifications, and the current one lasts until March 17, 2027. The certification not only keeps 702 operating but also compels telecommunications companies to provide data requested by intelligence agencies.  

But bipartisan congressional support would put the program on firmer ground. As NPR explains: 

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. Advocates on all sides of the surveillance fight believe those challenges are ultimately likely to fail, but those closely linked to the intelligence community emphasize that even a small pause comes with risks ahead of major events like America’s 250th celebration and the World Cup. 

Beyond worries about short-run hiccups, if Trump insists on yoking Section 702 reauthorization to the Save America Act, the program will expire in nine months. By that point, no judicial workaround can save it. Trump has long vacillated about FISA, at times baselessly accusing the “Deep State” of using the Section 702 program to spy on his presidential campaign. In 2018, Trump signaled opposition to reauthorization days before signing it into law. Out of office during the 2024 campaign, he posted on social media, “KILL FISA.” While he nominally supports the program for now, his holding up reauthorization fuels doubts about the mercurial president’s commitment to keeping it alive.  

For Trump to prioritize manipulating elections over stopping terrorism obviates his claims of being the guarantor of border security. But he can maintain this reckless, petulant posture in part because there is so little media interest in the potential for a terrorist attack, even though a domestic plot possibly driven by antisemitism targeting pro-Israel lawmakers attending the June 14 Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House was recently thwarted by the FBI. 

Of course, our term-limited president will do as he wants, since he won’t be on the ballot again and cares little about the political and policy consequences for others. But if he doesn’t want to be remembered as the president who let the next 9/11 happen, public pressure warning him of that looming possibility could motivate him to take Section 702 reauthorization seriously.