US Lawmakers Move to Kill the FBI’s Warrantless Wiretap Access

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026, which would require the FBI to obtain warrants before searching Americans' communications collected under Section 702 of FISA. The bill targets the FBI's 'backdoor search' practice ruled unconstitutional in 2025, arriving weeks before the global spy program's April 20 sunset. Sponsors warn that AI advances and commercially available data have outpaced existing privacy protections, while internal oversight mechanisms like the FBI's Office of Internal Auditing have been dismantled.