Politics|Senators Warn of Intelligence Gaps if Surveillance Program Expires

Two senior Republican senators warned the Trump administration on Saturday to prepare for the possible expiration of a key tool for U.S. government surveillance, urging top officials to take steps to bridge any gaps in intelligence gathering.

In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the national security adviser, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the chair of the Intelligence Committee, and Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who leads the Judiciary Committee, said they believed that Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act may not be renewed before it expires on June 12, despite weeks of bipartisan negotiations aimed at preserving the program.

Those negotiations fell apart on Friday after Democrats refused to back a renewal because of concerns over President Trump’s recent appointment of Bill Pulte, a close ally and the federal housing director, to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies. The defeat left uncertain the future of Section 702, which allows intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign targets overseas — including when they are communicating with Americans.

In their letter, the senators urged the administration to identify intelligence targets that could be affected by a lapse, to explore alternative legal authorities to continue collecting intelligence and, if necessary, to draft an executive order to address the gap left by the expiration of the law. The letter was first reported by Punchbowl News.

What had appeared to be a relatively routine reauthorization effort has devolved into one of the most politically fraught national security debates of Mr. Trump’s second term.

Just weeks ago, lawmakers approved a short-term extension to buy negotiators time to work through proposed changes to the surveillance authority, which allows the government to collect the communications of foreigners overseas without a warrant.