A bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to improve transparency, and for other purposes.
Sponsored By: Senator Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Introduced
Summary
This bill would strengthen public transparency over foreign intelligence surveillance by requiring faster public releases of court opinions, broader declassification reviews, and new reporting on sensitive queries and searches.
Show full summary
- Members of the public and the news media would get more access to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions and orders, including a required public release of the March 17, 2026 section 702 opinion within 14 days after enactment with necessary redactions. This aims to make key legal reasoning available to citizens and reporters.
- Intelligence community elements would face new reporting and record requirements. The Attorney General would need to report annually on requests to run sensitive queries, approvals and denials, and the number of sensitive queries, and agencies would give good faith estimates of United States person search terms used under Executive Order 12333.
- Congressional oversight would receive more disaggregated data and declassification reviews. The Director of National Intelligence and Attorney General would do recurring declassification reviews and publish prior reports, and the Attorney General would provide a FISA violations report to Judiciary Committees.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
More public FISA court transparency
If enacted, the bill would require the Director of National Intelligence, with the Attorney General, to review FISA court decisions for declassification. The DNI would have to finish each review and publicly release decisions that interpret law, involve sensitive investigative matters, or were nominated by a court amicus within 180 days of the decision. The DNI and AG would have to release the March 17, 2026 FISC memorandum on Section 702 no later than 14 days after enactment, with redactions to protect sources and methods. The DNI would also post certain intelligence oversight reports online and publish prior reports within 180 days after enactment, and the Attorney General would send Congress a version addressing FISA violations.
Five-week delay of Section 702 repeal
If enacted, the bill would delay the scheduled repeal of Section 702 by five weeks. The repeal date would change from June 12, 2026 to July 17, 2026 in the two cited statutory notes. The amendment would take effect on the earlier of enactment or June 11, 2026.
Annual report on non‑FISA U.S. queries
If enacted, the bill would require each element of the intelligence community to give a good-faith yearly estimate of how many United States person search terms and queries were used to retrieve information collected under Executive Order 12333 outside of FISA. Agencies would add that estimate to existing oversight reports.
Annual report on sensitive queries
If enacted, the bill would require the Attorney General to send Congress a report at least once a year on sensitive queries. The report would list how many requests to run sensitive queries were made, how many were approved or denied, and how many sensitive queries were actually run. Those numbers would be broken down by the specific subclause named in the statute.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
OR • D
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov