Boost FISA Transparency and Reporting

Summary#

This bill would change parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and related law to require more public disclosure about certain court opinions, intelligence queries, and internal reports. It also delays the scheduled end date for the Section 702 surveillance authority by five weeks. The broad goal is to increase transparency about how intelligence collection and court rulings affect U.S. persons and domestic matters.

Key changes:

• Immediate release: The Director of National Intelligence (DNI), with the Attorney General (AG), must publicly release the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) Memorandum Opinion and Order dated March 17, 2026, with redactions for sources and methods, within 14 days of enactment.
• Annual reports on “sensitive queries”: The AG must annually report to Congress counts of requests to run sensitive searches (including approvals/denials) and counts of sensitive queries performed, broken down by subcategories named in the law.
• Declassification requirement: The DNI, with the AG, must review and, to the greatest extent practicable, publicly release FISC and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review opinions or orders that (a) make a significant legal interpretation, (b) involve sensitive investigative matters (including some domestic officials, organizations, or the domestic news media), or (c) were nominated for review by a court-appointed amicus. Reviews and releases must be completed within 180 days of issuance.
• Public reports of violations: The DNI must publish reports previously sent under the National Security Act about violations of law or executive orders on a public website (with redactions) and publish past reports within 180 days. The AG must give Judiciary Committees a version addressing FISA violations.
• Transparency on searches outside FISA: Annual reports must include a good-faith estimate, by each element of the intelligence community, of U.S.-person search terms and queries used to retrieve information collected under Executive Order 12333 (intelligence activities outside FISA).
• Short extension: The repeal/expiration date for Title VII (Section 702 authority) would move from June 12, 2026 to July 17, 2026. The amendment takes effect on the earlier of enactment or June 11, 2026.

What it means for you#

• Intelligence agencies and staff

  • Must prepare new and expanded public reports and perform declassification reviews. This may change internal procedures for redaction and publication.
  • Agencies will need to count and report certain U.S.-person search terms and sensitive-query requests.

• Director of National Intelligence and Attorney General

  • Must coordinate and carry out the release of a specific March 17, 2026 FISC opinion within 14 days.
  • Must complete declassification reviews and make many FISC/FISCR opinions public within 180 days of issuance, as practicable.
  • Must publish reports on violations and provide a FISA-focused version of such reports to Congress.

• Courts (FISC / FISCR)

  • Opinions or orders that interpret law significantly or involve sensitive domestic matters are now subject to a required declassification review and possible public release.

• Congress

  • Will receive annual detailed reports about sensitive-query requests, approvals/denials, and counts of sensitive queries.
  • Judiciary Committees will receive DOJ versions of reports on violations relevant to FISA.

• Members of the public, including journalists and advocacy groups

  • May gain access to certain FISC/FISCR opinions and to reports on violations and query counts, subject to redactions.
  • The public release could provide more information on how intelligence rules affect domestic persons and media.

• People whose communications are collected or queried

  • The bill does not change legal standards for collection or querying, but it aims to increase public information about when queries touch domestic officials, organizations, or news media.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Possible practical costs (inferred from the bill text):

• This could increase administrative work and staffing costs at the DNI and DOJ to perform declassification reviews, prepare redactions, and publish reports.
• Technology and web-hosting costs may rise to post documents and reports publicly.
• Agencies may incur compliance and record-keeping costs to produce the “good faith” estimates and disaggregated counts required.
• The bill does not include an explicit budget or estimate of these costs.

Proponents' View#

• The bill appears intended to improve public and congressional understanding of how FISA Section 702 and other intelligence authorities are used.
• It could be seen as promoting accountability by making important FISC/FISCR interpretations and reports on violations more available to the public.
• Requiring counts of sensitive queries and U.S.-person search terms (outside FISA) would provide more detail about how often domestic-related searches occur.
• The five-week extension of Section 702 avoids a possible lapse in the authority while transparency measures are implemented.

Opponents' View#

• One concern is that public release of court opinions and expanded reporting could risk exposing intelligence sources, methods, or ongoing investigative details, even with redactions.
• The 180-day deadline for declassification reviews may create heavy workloads and could lead to rushed or incomplete redactions.
• The term “good faith estimate” and references to subclauses in reporting requirements are vague; it is unclear how accurate or comparable the reported numbers will be across agencies.
• Releasing reports on violations publicly could conflict with other classification or privacy rules; the bill does not explain how to resolve such conflicts.
• The five-week extension is short and may be viewed as only a temporary fix rather than a longer-term policy decision.