FISA Court Finds More Cheating: The FBI’s Section 702 Audit Trail Stays Missing

The air outside smells like hickory smoke and hot asphalt, and this story feels the same. In a classified courtroom, a judge is reportedly looking at the FBI’s Section 702 process and asking why the “audit trail” keeps acting like disposable foil.

What the newer FISA court opinion reportedly says

According to a Brennan Center one page summary, the latest Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinion points to continuing violations tied to how the FBI searches Section 702 data for Americans’ communications. The summary also argues that the legal counting, tracking, and auditing Congress required did not reliably happen, even after DOJ overseers were told about earlier problems.

The safeguard problem: US person queries not properly logged

Section 702 authorizes warrantless collection of communications involving non US people overseas, but the law anticipates Americans’ communications can be swept in. That is why Congress required guardrails for how the government searches that material.

Those searches are called US person queries, and the RISAA changes passed in April 2024 were supposed to make reasons and approvals show up on the audit log.

But the Brennan summary says DOJ overseers learned in August 2024 that the FBI had been using a filtering tool that allegedly allowed US person queries to happen without being counted, tracked, or audited as required. It also alleges agents did not record reasons or obtain required attorney or supervisory approvals. DOJ later reported to the FISA Court that the tool was deactivated in early 2025.

And the plot thickens: similar tools, continued gaps

Still, the summary says the newer classified opinion reportedly indicates the systemic violations kept spreading. It claims that even after the earlier tool was shut down, the FBI reportedly used a similar filtering approach that was not properly covered by RISAA requirements. It also says NSA and CIA reportedly used similar tools too.

The Washington Post adds context, reporting on a classified court ruling raising concerns about an advanced filtering issue in how privacy protections for US persons are heightened when analysts search raw collected data. The Post says the ruling has not been declassified for public release, and DOJ did not immediately respond on whether it would appeal.

Translation in plain terms: if the system can make the numbers look smaller on paper, oversight can look neat while the public gets no real accounting.

Why it matters: checks that can be tested, not smoke that can’t

The Brennan Center summary argues the actual number of US person queries for 2024 remains unknown and likely unknowable. It also urges Congress to require agents to get a warrant or a FISA Title I order before accessing Americans’ private communications incidentally collected under Section 702.

While the debate over Section 702 reauthorization heats up, the core question stays the same: will lawmakers demand measurable compliance, or keep trusting a curtain of complexity?

Now I want your thoughts: if the count can be unknowable and filtering tools can bypass the oversight trail, what else is being cooked off the menu, and should Congress renew anything that comes with that kind of smoke?