America’s Spies Have Located The Lame Duck

Trump’s intelligence chiefs want Congress to renew a major surveillance authority before Republicans lose control in January. An administration official told Fox News Digital this is a huge priority. The agencies have successfully detected an approaching Democrat.

Their letter says Section 702’s statutory authority has already lapsed, although collection continues until March 16 without renewal. They want the renewal process started by December 9 to allow enough time. Even the country’s surveillance machinery has a processing period. It cannot simply select “continue watching.”

Section 702 targets foreigners and can sweep in Americans’ communications with those targets. Privacy critics object to warrantless surveillance; the officials say it disrupts terrorism, cyber intrusions and weapons proliferation. Their letter calls it the “single most indispensable tool.” Ordinary indispensability apparently no longer gets Congress’s attention. The impossible-to-do-without thing must finish first among all the other impossible-to-do-without things.

Meanwhile, the administration wants the Republican Congress to handle renewal before the new majority arrives. A program that collects other people’s communications has developed a preference about who gets to examine it.

There it is: a privacy concern the surveillance establishment can get behind.