H.R. 7901 — Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026

This section prohibits federal officers from accessing covered information (communications content or data requiring a warrant for law enforcement purposes) returned by a covered query targeting a U.S. person or person located in the United States, except pursuant to a warrant or other court order, consent, an emergency involving imminent death or serious bodily harm (with 14-day reporting to the FISA Court and Congress), or defensive cybersecurity purposes (also with 14-day reporting). It further requires every query to be reasonably likely to retrieve foreign intelligence information and made with a significant foreign intelligence purpose.

This section prohibits the use of information concerning a covered person acquired under section 1881a in evidence against that person in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding unless the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order to access the information or the Attorney General determines the proceeding affects, involves, or is related to national security. It replaces references to United States persons with covered persons.

This section prohibits the intentional targeting of persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States if a significant purpose of the acquisition is to obtain information of one or more particular, known covered persons, unless an emergency exists involving an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm to such persons, the information assists them, and a description is provided to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and congressional committees within 14 days, or the covered persons consent. It also requires targeting procedures, certifications, and court orders under Section 702 to ensure acquisitions are not conducted for this purpose.

This section requires the Attorney General to develop, and intelligence community elements to implement, procedures governing retention of information collected under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It mandates destruction of covered information within 5 years of collection unless the Attorney General determines in writing that the information is subject to a litigation preservation obligation or is being used in a proceeding or investigation consistent with section 706(a).

This section limits directives for technical assistance from electronic communication service providers under section 702 by requiring the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to demonstrate that the assistance is necessary, narrowly tailored to the surveillance, and imposes no undue burden on the provider or its non-targeted customers. Providers need not comply unless the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court explicitly approves the method and issues a delivered order describing the assistance.

This section expands the prohibition on warrantless acquisition of domestic communications under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It bars intentional acquisition of any communication where the sender and all intended recipients are known or believed at the time of acquisition or communication to be located in the United States (from only known at the time of acquisition).

This section requires the Attorney General to submit an annual report to the appropriate congressional committees on the number of sensitive queries conducted under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, disaggregated by the subclause of clause (ii) under which the queries were approved.

This section narrows the definition of electronic communication service provider under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by repealing the category covering any other service provider with access to equipment used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications (excluding entities serving primarily as public accommodation facilities, dwellings, community facilities, or food service establishments). It makes the same change to the parallel definition in the provision protecting persons assisting the government. It also voids any section 702 directives issued to such providers from April 20, 2024, through the date of enactment.

This section repeals the expanded querying requirements for persons traveling to the United States under Section 702(f) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

This section extends the sunset date for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to April 20, 2030 (from two years after enactment of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act). It also updates related references in the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to include the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026.

This section prohibits Federal law enforcement agencies from obtaining covered personal data from covered organizations in exchange for anything of value. It defines covered personal data, covered persons (individuals located in the United States or U.S. persons), covered organizations, biometric information, and lawfully obtained public data, and provides exceptions for certain data compilations and whistleblower disclosures.

This section replaces sections 703, 704, and 705 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act with a new section 703 that requires a warrant issued under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or an order under sections 105, 304, or title IV for any intentional targeting of a United States person or person inside the United States to acquire communications content, location information, web browsing history, internet search history, or pen register or trap and trace data. It bars use or disclosure of information obtained under a denied emergency authorization and applies these rules regardless of acquisition location.

This section requires FISA applications for electronic surveillance, physical searches, and pen registers to state that the application fairly reflects all information, in addition to the existing requirement that the judge be apprised of all information.

This section establishes new accuracy procedures for applications for court orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. It requires each application to include a description of the procedures used and a certification that supporting documentation for every factual assertion, plus all information that might reasonably question accuracy or source reliability, has been reviewed for completeness. A judge may not issue an order unless the court finds that the procedures meet the statutory definition. The Attorney General must adopt the procedures within 180 days of enactment, after which a parallel requirement in the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act is repealed.

This section defines when information or evidence is derived from electronic surveillance, physical search, pen register or trap and trace use, tangible things production, or other acquisition under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, specifically when the government would not have originally possessed it but for that activity, regardless of any claim of attenuation, inevitable discovery, or subsequent reobtainment through other means. It also requires the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to publish policies and guidance on the definition within 90 days of enactment and to publish any modifications thereafter.

This section terminates the continued effectiveness of Title V of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, as in effect on March 14, 2020, on the date that is 180 days after enactment of the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026.

This section requires the Attorney General to maintain all written communications with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, including the identities of court employees involved, in a file associated with the relevant application or order. It also requires the Attorney General to document summaries of any oral communications with the court, including employee identities, and retain those records in the associated file.

This section expands mandatory appointment of amici curiae before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. It requires the court to appoint one or more individuals with privacy and civil liberties expertise unless it issues a written finding that the matter involves none of the following: a novel or significant legal interpretation, a significant constitutional rights concern, a sensitive investigative matter, a new program or technology, reauthorization of programmatic surveillance, or another appropriate privacy or civil liberties issue. It separately requires appointment of individuals with technical expertise for any new program, technology, or use of existing technology, or for any technical issue material to a legal determination, unless the court issues a written finding to the contrary. It defines a sensitive investigative matter as one involving a domestic public official, political candidate, religious or political organization, news media, or any similarly sensitive domestic entity or United States person. It updates amicus qualifications to include expertise in cybersecurity and cryptography, requires at least one individual with legal expertise and one with technical expertise, and mandates quarterly notifications to the Attorney General and congressional committees of each appointment and written finding. It adjusts the Section 702 recertification schedule to provide the number of days the court deems necessary for amicus review. It also authorizes amici to seek leave to raise any novel or significant privacy or civil liberties issue relevant to the application.

This section expands the declassification review requirement for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and Court of Review decisions, orders, and opinions to cover those that include a significant legal interpretation, involve a sensitive investigative matter, or are nominated by an amicus curiae. It requires the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Attorney General, to complete each review and make the material publicly available within 180 days after issuance, and applies to decisions issued before, on, or after the date of enactment.

This section grants the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court jurisdiction to hear ancillary claims arising from its proceedings, including constitutional or statutory requests for access to its records, files, and proceedings, and requires a written statement of reasons for each decision. It extends parallel jurisdiction to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, authorizes petitions for review and Supreme Court certiorari, and removes obsolete references to section 501(f) of the Act.

This section establishes standards for demonstrating injury in fact in civil actions brought by a United States person or person located in the United States challenging the acquisition, copying, querying, retention, access, or use of information under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 or other executive authority. A plaintiff satisfies the requirement by showing either regular foreign intelligence communications with non-United States persons outside the United States plus reasonable avoidance measures, or a reasonable basis to believe rights have been, are being, or imminently will be violated; the section also applies existing section 106(f) procedures when the state secrets privilege is asserted.

This section requires the FBI, CIA, NSA, and National Counterterrorism Center to establish procedures holding employees accountable for willful, knowing, reckless, or negligent violations of FISA, the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026, or Executive Order 12333 that result in inappropriate collection, use, querying, or dissemination of communications or records of covered persons. It mandates escalating minimum consequences, including 90-day suspension of access and personnel file documentation for a first reckless or negligent violation, 180-day suspension and reassignment for a second, and termination of security clearance plus reassignment or termination for a third; parallel escalating penalties apply for willful or knowing violations, with a presumption of termination and required congressional justification if termination is not imposed. It also requires a report to the appropriate congressional committees within 180 days and repeals existing accountability procedures under section 702(f) effective 180 days after enactment.

This section establishes that the procedures in chapters 119, 121, and 206 of title 18 and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are the exclusive means by which the United States Government may conduct electronic surveillance, the interception of wire, oral, and electronic communications within the United States or from a domestic electronic communications system, or the interception of such communications where the sender and all intended recipients are located within the United States. It provides that only an express statutory authorization, other than an amendment to these chapters or the Act, constitutes an additional exclusive means. It also establishes that the procedures in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and title IV of the Government Surveillance Reform Act are the exclusive means by which the United States Government may acquire the location information of one or more persons located in the United States for foreign intelligence purposes.

This section establishes definitions for terms used throughout the title, including congressional intelligence committees, intelligence, intelligence community, foreign intelligence, electronic surveillance, person, State, United States, and United States person, by adopting the meanings given in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003) and section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801).

This section prohibits federal officers or employees from accessing communications content or other covered information returned by a query using a term associated with a U.S. person or person in the United States, unless the query is conducted pursuant to a FISA order or warrant, with the covered person's consent, in an emergency involving imminent death or serious bodily harm, or solely for defensive cybersecurity purposes. It bars use of such information in any proceeding if an emergency authorization is later denied, requires Attorney General annual compliance assessments, mandates a significant foreign intelligence purpose for all queries, and requires creation of an electronic record documenting each covered query.

This section prohibits federal officers and employees from intentionally targeting any person to acquire foreign intelligence information if a significant purpose is to obtain the communications of a particular known United States person or person located in the United States. The prohibition does not apply to acquisitions conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or pursuant to a criminal warrant, or in cases of imminent death or serious bodily harm to the covered person or with the covered person's consent.

This section prohibits elements of the intelligence community from acquiring datasets containing covered data linked to United States persons or their devices. Covered data includes derived or anonymized data reasonably linkable to such persons, but excludes publicly available government or media records, voluntarily public information, and specific communications with non-covered persons. Exceptions allow acquisition under FISA orders, employment screening, compliance reviews, imminent life-or-safety threats, individual consent, nonsegregable data, and national security letters obtained abroad.

This section prohibits federal officers and employees from intentionally acquiring, for foreign intelligence purposes, any communication known to be between persons located in the United States, regardless of acquisition location. It creates exceptions for acquisitions authorized under FISA sections 105 or 304, and for emergencies involving imminent threats of death or serious bodily harm if reported to the congressional intelligence committees within 14 days.

This section requires each intelligence community element to develop procedures ensuring that covered information—defined as unevaluated data or communications pertaining to a covered person that are not specifically known to contain foreign intelligence—is destroyed within 5 years of collection. The Attorney General may extend retention in writing only if the information is subject to a litigation preservation obligation or is used in a proceeding under section 706(a) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

This section requires the Director of National Intelligence to publish each annual report on violations of law or executive order by intelligence community personnel on a public website, with redactions necessary to protect sources and methods. It requires publication of all prior reports within 180 days after enactment of the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026. It also requires the Attorney General, in consultation with the Director, to submit to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees a version of each report limited to violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.

This section requires the Inspector General of the Department of Justice and the Inspector General of each intelligence community element to initiate, within one year of enactment, an audit of FISA court order applications and section 702(i) directives. Each Inspector General must review a sample of applications and directives, assess safeguards for accuracy and compliance with recent statutory amendments, identify risks or violations, and make recommendations. The Department of Justice Inspector General must also evaluate the accuracy of information submitted under the new section 603(f) reporting requirement. Reports must be submitted to the Attorney General, Director of National Intelligence, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, congressional committees, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and appointed amici curiae, with unclassified versions made publicly available.

This section expands whistleblower protections under 50 U.S.C. 3234 to prohibit reprisals against intelligence community employees or contractors for lawful disclosures to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. It also caps pay for Board staff at the highest rate paid by any intelligence community element for a comparable position.

This section requires any person issuing a certification under 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(a)(ii)(B) that grants immunity for assistance with wire or electronic communications surveillance to submit the certification to the appropriate congressional committees within 30 days. It also requires submission of all such ongoing certifications in effect on the date of enactment within 90 days.

This section requires a warrant for governmental access to location information, web browsing records, or search query records from providers of electronic communication or remote computing services. It defines location information as data revealing the geographic location of a customer, subscriber, user, or device; web browsing records as records identifying services accessed or network traffic generated; and search query records as records of queries submitted to online services such as search engines. It also requires a warrant for installing tracking devices, with an emergency exception allowing installation if a warrant application is filed within 48 hours.

This section updates prohibitions on voluntary disclosure of wire or electronic communications by providers of electronic communication services and remote computing services. It expands the scope of protected stored communications, revises exceptions to permit disclosure to originators, subscribers, and customers, and requires governmental entities to obtain a warrant or other legal process before accessing such communications. It also authorizes providers to notify subscribers of legal process and adds rules of construction preserving congressional subpoena authority and certain internal communications.

This section defines "online service provider" to include any provider of electronic communication service, remote computing service, or interactive computer service under 47 USC 230(f). It applies the data disclosure requirements of 18 USC 2703 uniformly to all such providers in response to government warrants, court orders, and subpoenas.

This section requires federal law enforcement to submit a certification with specific and articulable facts showing reasonable grounds to believe that metadata obtained through pen registers or trap and trace devices is relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation. It also permits courts to issue such orders rather than requiring them to do so.

This section requires a governmental entity to identify a subscriber by name, address, temporarily assigned network address, or account identifier (such as a user name) to obtain subscriber information via subpoena under 18 U.S.C. 2703(c)(2).

This section requires the Attorney General to issue publicly available minimization procedures within 180 days of enactment for voluntary disclosures of customer communications or records to federal agencies under 18 U.S.C. 2702(b)(5), (b)(8), (c)(3), or (c)(4). The procedures must limit acquisition, use, and dissemination to the specific purpose of the disclosure; remove or mask personally identifiable information to the greatest extent possible; and prohibit retention by any agency after the investigation or action concludes.

This section requires governmental entities to obtain court orders meeting the most stringent applicable federal statutory or constitutional standards before compelling covered organizations that are not online service providers to disclose covered personal data. The orders must apply the same basis and limitations that would govern comparable disclosures by online service providers.

This section defines an intermediary or ancillary service provider as an entity that directly or indirectly delivers, transmits, stores, or processes communications or covered personal data for an online service provider. It prohibits such providers from knowingly disclosing the contents of any communication in electronic storage to any person or entity, or from disclosing subscriber or customer records to a governmental entity.

This section requires judges to report annually to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts on every application for a warrant or order under section 2703 to obtain contents of wire or electronic communications in storage or related records, including the type of records sought, outcome, subsection used, offense, provider served, and investigating agency. It directs the Director to publish a public report each June on the AOUSC website and in the existing wiretap report under section 2519(3), and to issue a machine-readable reporting form within 180 days of enactment after consultation with specified entities. It also rewrites section 3126 to impose parallel annual reporting on pen register and trap and trace device orders.

This section limits the application of compelled disclosure procedures under section 2703 to federal departments and agencies only. It establishes new section 2703A that applies identical warrant and subpoena requirements for state and local governmental entities to obtain contents of wire or electronic communications in electronic storage or remote computing services. It also adds rules under section 2702(h) that prohibit voluntary disclosures of communications contents and customer records to state and local entities except in specified circumstances such as emergencies involving death or serious injury.

This section prohibits Federal investigative or law enforcement officers from accessing covered vehicle data—onboard and telematics data from noncommercial vehicles, including diagnostic, navigation, sensor, and event data recorder information—except pursuant to a warrant under rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. It permits access with prior consent from the vehicle operator (or owner if the operator cannot be located), provided no passenger age 14 or older objects and consent meets specified affirmative requirements, and in emergencies involving immediate danger of death or serious physical injury where a warrant application is filed within 48 hours.

This section expands the annual report submitted by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications and orders to also include the number of certifications by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court pursuant to section 103(j), the number of petitions to certify a question made by an amicus curiae under section 103(i)(7)(A), the number of en banc hearings or rehearings disaggregated by type under section 103(a)(2), and the number of amicus curiae appointments under section 103(i)(2). The report remains subject to declassification review and is made publicly available online.

This section expands the Director of National Intelligence’s annual public report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act activities. It requires additional details on section 702 certifications and targeting, the number of directives issued to each type of electronic communication service provider, counts of disseminated intelligence reports containing U.S. person identities (masked or openly included) derived from section 702 and non-702 collection, the number of queries on covered persons conducted with and without warrants, and the number of criminal proceedings in which the federal or state governments used information obtained outside the Act’s authorities. It also applies these reporting requirements to the FBI.

This section requires the Attorney General to submit and publish an annual report each April on the accuracy and completeness of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The report must cover the preceding calendar year and include the total number of applications reviewed, the number of material and nonmaterial errors or omissions identified, the number of unsupported facts, and any explanations or corrective actions for changes in error rates. It also requires the Department of Justice Inspector General to periodically assess these reports and report identified risks to the appropriate congressional committees.

This section revises semiannual aggregate reporting on national security letters and FISA orders by narrowing bands to 200 (from 500 or 1,000) for the first 1,000 items and requiring exact counts thereafter. It requires disaggregation by whether orders or directives were issued under sections 105, 402, or 702. It also authorizes additional semiannual reports on compliance with each authority over the prior 180 days.

This section requires the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to submit a public report to the appropriate congressional committees within one year on the use of First Amendment-protected activities and expression, and of race, ethnicity, national origin, and religious affiliation, in applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders and in the investigations for which such orders are sought. The Board may submit a classified annex.

This section requires the Director of National Intelligence to publish, within 90 days of enactment, a good faith estimate of either the number of United States persons whose communications are collected under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 or the number of such communications involving a party located in the United States at the time of collection.

This section requires the Attorney General to assess compliance with the requirements for emergency electronic surveillance and physical search orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act not less frequently than annually. It also directs that those assessments be included in the semiannual reports submitted to the congressional intelligence committees.

This section preserves the authorities and procedures for state and local law enforcement agencies to acquire records as in effect the day before enactment of this Act.

This section provides that if any provision of the Act or amendment made by the Act is held unconstitutional, the remaining provisions and amendments remain in effect and apply to other persons or circumstances.

This section authorizes the Attorney General, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence as appropriate, to delay implementation of any provision of this Act or amendment made by this Act for up to one year upon a showing to the appropriate congressional committees that the delay is necessary to develop technical systems or to hire and train personnel for compliance.