A critical U.S. intelligence gathering program is on the brink of lapsing after the House of Representatives failed to extend it, a direct consequence of a standoff over President Donald Trump’s controversial pick for the nation’s top intelligence post.
The rare lapse in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the United States to collect intelligence abroad, appears imminent after a bipartisan protest against Trump’s refusal to name a permanent head of the nation's intelligence agencies.