US Lawmakers Move to Kill the FBI’s Warrantless Wiretap Access

Washington: Congress is debating a new law to stop the FBI from searching Americans’ private messages without a warrant. The Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026 would also cancel parts of an old law that let most spy agencies listen to communications without a warrant.

Senators Ron Wyden and Mike Lee, along with Representatives Warren Davidson and Zoe Lofgren, support this change. They say it’s necessary because technology that collects data and artificial intelligence have grown faster than privacy laws.

The old system, called Section 702, allowed the US government to collect the messages of foreigners who are not in America. But it also caught a lot of Americans’ messages by mistake. The FBI would then search through all that collected data to look at Americans’ private messages without ever getting a warrant.

Recent reports say FBI bosses used to want stricter rules for searches, but now support letting the searches happen. The FBI just closed down the office that had reduced mistakes in searches before.

Some experts say the government has stopped asking questions about these searches and is using more law enforcement tools against people in America. They point to raids on journalists’ homes and using anti-terrorism teams to watch political groups inside the country.