A comprehensive timeline chronicling the history of warrantless surveillance in the U.S., with a particular focus on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
This landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court redefined what constituted as a “search” or a “seizure” under the Fourth Amendment.
The Watergate scandal led to President Nixon's resignation and contributed to the enactment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was enacted by Congress in 1978.
Executive Order 12333 is the primary authority governing U.S. foreign intelligence surveillance conducted outside the United States and grants broad powers to agencies such as the NSA, CIA, and FBI to collect communications without warrants or judicial approval.
According to the Washington Post report, FBI and Department of Energy officials faced difficulties gathering sufficient evidence to meet the probable cause standard mandated by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for a surveillance warrant against scientist Dr. Wen Ho Lee.
In a meticulously planned attack, terrorists hijacked four airliners, flying three of the four planes into buildings.
Months after the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless surveillance of international phone calls and emails involving people inside the United States to detect terrorist activity, marking a major departure from longstanding intelligence practices governed by FISA.
In response to legal uncertainty surrounding the Bush administration’s post-9/11 surveillance programs, Congress passed the Protect America Act as a temporary measure to ensure continuity of foreign intelligence collection.
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 established Section 702, providing a permanent legal framework for collecting foreign intelligence by authorizing the targeting of non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States, without individual warrants.
FISA of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 was reauthorized for five years until December 31, 2017.
Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed the scope of U.S. mass surveillance under Section 702, including the PRISM and Upstream programs
The task force was founded in response to a call by Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, after a series of innocent naturalized Chinese Americans in private industry, federal government, and academia were accused of spying for China, but all of them were subsequently dismissed without an explanation, much less an apology, from the government.
The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) issued a significant Memorandum Opinion and Order reviewing government submissions from September 2016 and March 2017 concerning amendments to Section 702 targeting and minimization procedures used by the National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).
Andrew Kim, legal scholar at the South Texas College of Law, published a white paper "Prosecuting 'Chinese Spies:' An Empirical Analysis of the Economic Espionage Act."
Temple University Professor Xiaoxing Xi filed a civil rights lawsuit challenging the government's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the FBI's targeting of American scientists of Asian descent.
APA Justice launched the website to raise public awareness and promote reform regarding the potential misuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and its amendments, particularly concerning the civil liberties and privacy of Asian Pacific Americans who may be subject to racial or ethnic profiling.
APA Justice Co-Organizer Jeremy Wu, with translation by fellow Co-Organizer Vincent Wang, argues that Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, largely unknown to the public and operating in secrecy, has enabled warrantless mass surveillance that threatens constitutional rights and has disproportionately harmed innocent Americans—particularly Asian Americans.
The Committee of 100 (C100) submitted a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging the reauthorization of Title VII of the FISA Amendments Act with a new sunset date and significant reforms to enhance transparency, oversight, and accountability while protecting privacy and civil liberties.
This joint essay was written by Jeremy Wu, Vincent Wang, Aryani Ong, Sherry Chen, Albert Wang, Haipei Shue, and Ed Gor.
A coalition of Asian American organizations urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reform Section 702 of FISA before its expiration on December 31, 2017 to ensure stronger protections for Americans and individuals in the U.S. against warrantless government surveillance.
The New York Times explained how Congress passed a stopgap bill that will keep the government funded into January and also extend FISA Amendments Act through January 19, 2018.
In January 2018, Congress reauthorized Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for six years, extending the government’s authority to collect foreign intelligence by targeting non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States.
On this day, the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched the China Initiative, a broad enforcement effort intended to counter alleged economic espionage and intellectual property theft linked to China.
A coalition of civil liberties and Asian American advocacy groups including APA Justice hosted a webinar to highlight the implications of Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act and to build support for reform.
The House passed a two-year extension of Section 702 of FISA while narrowly rejecting, by a 212–212 tie vote, a warrant requirement that privacy advocates say is essential to stop documented abuses of warrantless surveillance of Americans’ communications.
Congress passed the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA) to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA for two additional years, postponing its expiration to April 20, 2026.
Kash Patel abruptly shut down the Office of Internal Auditing, a watchdog agency established in 2020 as a direct response to controversy surrounding the FBI’s use of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The DOJ Office of Inspector General published a document reviewing the FBI's querying practices under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), focusing on compliance improvements following the enactment of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA) in April 2024.
The report recounts how a razor-thin House vote in spring 2024 preserved warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of FISA, after Rep. Dan Goldman and the Biden administration successfully argued that requiring warrants to search foreign-collected communications for Americans’ data would cripple urgent national security investigations.
After years of failed attempts to rein in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—a program that targets foreigners but routinely sweeps up Americans’ communications—privacy advocates believe the 2026 reauthorization fight may be different, largely because President Trump could emerge as an unexpected ally.
On April 20, 2026 the current authorization of Section 702 (Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act) is set to expire.
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