Amidst uncertainty about the future of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reauthorization, one thing has been certain on Capitol Hill: Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) are not the holdup.
Multiple Senate insiders told the Washington Reporter that the White House has repeatedly leaned on Cotton — the Chair of SSCI — when it has national security problems. The biggest holdup remains what to do with FISA’s Section 702, which won a brief temporary reauthorization, but whose long-term future remains up in air following its June 12 expiration.
A Republican Senate advisor told the Reporter, that “getting a bipartisan deal on FISA was considered impossible just last year. But, credit where due, SSCI found a compromise that included real reforms while still protecting the national security interests. With all the drama on what happens next with FISA, SSCI’s smooth handling has been the dog that hasn’t barked — not a single leak or issue.”
Sources at the CIA and other intelligence agencies also had high praise for Cotton’s ability to drive a deal on FISA, suggesting that without Cotton’s deft handling, FISA renewal would have been a lost cause.
While FISA’s reauthorization has typically been a contentious but bipartisan affair, Senate Democrats are lining up against it as a way to protest President Donald Trump’s announcement that Bill Pulte will serve as the Acting Director of the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), the top Democrat on Cotton’s committee, is among those leading the charge — alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.).
But as FISA’s reauthorization deadline draws near, there is a challenge with the renewal. One canary in the coalmine is Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D., Nev.), who is now among the lawmakers who are drawing a direct link between a possible Pulte-run ODNI and a FISA reauthorization. “Pulte must be removed from this role before I would consider any FISA renewal,” she said.
