The Surveillance Machine That Won’t Stop Growing: Inside the Latest Section 702 Abuse Scandal

The Surveillance Machine That Won’t Stop Growing: Inside the Latest Section 702 Abuse Scandal

Senator Ron Wyden has seen this movie before. And he’s tired of it. In early March 2026, the Oregon Democrat — long one of the most persistent congressional critics of U.S. government surveillance — issued a pointed warning about yet another instance of abuse under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The warning, reported by security researcher Bruce Schneier on his widely read blog, arrives at a moment when the intelligenc…

Sen. Wyden Warns of Another Section 702 Abuse - Schneier on Security

Sen. Ron Wyden is warning us of an abuse of Section 702: Wyden took to the Senate floor to deliver a lengthy speech, ostensibly about the since approved (with support of many Democrats) nomination of Joshua Rudd to lead the NSA. Wyden was protesting that nomination, but in the context of Rudd being unwilling to agree to basic constitutional limitations on NSA surveillance. But that’s just a jumping off point ahead of Section 702’s upcoming reaut…