A March 2026 report revealed that FBI searches of Americans' data collected under FISA Section 702 increased by approximately 35% during 2025, rising from 5,518 to 7,413 searches. Privacy advocates cited this as evidence that Section 702 continues to allow increasing access to communications involving Americans without traditional warrants. [nextgov.com]

In January 2025, a US federal court ruled that the FBI violated the Fourth Amendment when it searched communications collected under FISA Section 702 using identifiers associated with US person Agron Hasbajrami without first obtaining a warrant. The information had originally been acquired through surveillance targeting a foreign person abroad, demonstrating how communications collected for foreign-intelligence purposes can subsequently be searched for domestic investigative use.

Sources

• Read the Congressional Research Service analysis
• Read the ACLU report and access the court order
• Read the Oxford Human Rights Hub legal analysis