While Congress Ponders Cutting Spy Powers, the FBI Amps Up Domestic Surveillance
A vote on FISA is getting headlines, but the FBI may have ways to keep using the tool
The FBI under Donald Trump has deleted a huge chunk of its own rulebook, a major revision unlike anything the bureau has done in at least 10 years, FBI sources tell Racket. The administration’s rewrite of the rules shaping the bureau’s domestic investigatory and intelligence work represent an effort for the new leadership to transform the bureau’s day-to-day operation.
Details on the edits to the FBI’s internal rules arrive just as news is spreading of a secret court opinion from March 17th allowing agents and other intelligence officials to continue using select spy powers into 2027, even if the authorizing law expires this month.
The business of how the FBI conducts investigations is changing behind closed doors. The rules are being rewritten in secret, with judges issuing classified opinions that Americans can’t read.
