The White House has formally asked a national security court to approve warrantless surveillance tactics as Congress has stalled over how and whether to extend a controversial law used by the government to spot and target foreign threats.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows US agencies to collect the electronic communications abroad of people who aren’t US citizens.
Renewal has been contentious as the program permits the warrantless collection of private messages in certain circumstances where Americans are in contact with a foreign surveillance target. Members of Congress and civil liberties groups have criticized the surveillance ...