Trump's fumbles putting US 'at risk' for ​attack: Fox reporter

According to Fox News Chief Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram, President Donald Trump’s mishandling of vital security legislation has intelligence officials concerned that the U.S. is at greater risk of a terrorist attack.

This assertion follows Congress’s failure to pass the extension of a key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Services Act, which security experts have warned could leave the nation’s intelligence services “in the dark” when it comes to monitoring the communications of potential threats. According to Pergram, “The program is considered to be the premier intelligence gathering tool in the intelligence community’s arsenal.”

Lawmakers have been fighting over the extension for months as the program faced opposition from privacy hawks who demanded guardrails to prevent the program from being used to monitor American communications, among other concessions. Then, just as it appeared that Congress had struck a deal that would allow for the extension, as Pergram notes, Trump decided to nominate Bill Pulte as Director of National Intelligence, dooming the effort in both chambers as Democrats feared Pulte would weaponize the spy program against the president’s enemies.

This was no idle concern, as Pulte had already repeatedly targeted Trump’s opponents from his role at the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The potential for abusing his new position was so likely that even Republicans decried the nomination, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) saying, “We don't need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there. If he's somebody we want in that position permanently, he's got a lengthy road ahead of him.”

After lawmakers from both sides of the aisle warned that Pulte's appointment had just doomed the FISA extension — the deadline for which comes on Saturday morning at the stroke of midnight — Trump attempted a last-minute save by nominating a somewhat less controversial Jay Clayton, but it was too late. “Senators fled from the chamber for the weekend,” explained Pergram. “His confirmation hearing is next Wednesday.”

Once the program lapses, intelligence agencies will lose legal access to targeted telecommunications. While there is technically a special court overseeing it that will continue probes on a more limited basis through next March, major issues arise because “some Constitutional scholars see this as warrantless surveillance, violating the Fourth Amendment. The telecommunications firms were willing to provide the data –- if they had a blessing from Congress. But no legal extension of the program by lawmakers puts the telecoms on thin ice.”

As Pergram notes, this comes at a precarious moment for the country from the vantage of preventing terrorism. Not only is the U.S. engaged in a war, but it is hosting the World Cup and celebrating its 250th birthday. And now, “it’s believed that some companies might refuse to provide data. And if the intelligence services don’t have the data, they can’t track what they need during this very vulnerable period.”

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