• CONSPIRARY THEORYThe Paranoid Style in American Oversight, Part I

    By Michael Feinberg

    Senator Grassley’s account of how and why the FBI investigated Trump’s role in the false electors plot is a feat of political conspiracy.

  • FISA SECTION 702FISA Section 702 Lapsed on Friday—What Now?

    By Patrick G. Eddington

    Congress was asked to extend, without a warrant requirement, a surveillance program whose compliance record cannot be independently verified, whose oversight bodies have been deliberately disabled, and whose custodians have shown a personal willingness to turn its tools on the press. The program did not go dark on Friday. The real question is whether the House and Senate leadership will finally tell Trump that embracing the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement is the only way to end this saga.

  • FISAThe Fourth Amendment Forecloses a Foreign Intelligence Exception: A Brief Case Against the FISA Section 702 Program

    By Patrick G. Eddington

    The House and Senate versions of the extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) lack the only thing that matters: a warrant requirement to search the stored data of Americans collected under the program. In that sense, the 702 program has always been at odds with the plain language of the Fourth Amendment, thanks entirely to the secret court that oversees the semisecret surveillance activity.

  • IRAN WARAmerica’s Post-Deliberative Wars

    By Brandan P. Buck

    Over the last eight weeks of war with Iran, America’s two deliberative institutions, Congress and the media, have largely abandoned their duty to sustain public debate on the most important question a republic can face—the choice between war and peace. The Iran War may thus be the first genuinely “post-deliberative” war in American history.

  • DHS SHUTDOWNThe Homeland Security Shutdown and the Power of the Purse

    By Scott Levy

    The current Department of Homeland Security shutdown shows that the effects of a shutdown in appropriations are not fixed by Congress alone. They depend on executive choices about which functions to sustain, which funds to deploy, and where disruption will be felt. Without clearer constraints on that discretion, Congress’s power of the purse becomes increasingly illusory in the very moments it is meant to matter most.

  • SURVEILLANCEFISA Reauthorization Fearmongering and Disinformation Kicks Into Overdrive

    By Patrick G. Eddington

    With just 10 days to go before Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expires, surveillance hawks have intensified their propaganda and fearmongering campaign. But FISA’s many problems are reasons for Congress to hit the “pause” button on FISA Section 702 reauthorization, unless and until these problems are eliminated.

  • DHSSenate Funds DHS without ICE or Border Patrol, Heads to House

    By Andrew Rice, The Center Square

    The U.S. Senate agreed to fund the Department of Homeland Security early Friday, without including funds for ICE and Border Patrol.

  • THE PROBLEM WITH ICEThe One Big Beautiful Bill Made ICE Shutdown-Proof and Eroded Fiscal Norms

    By Dominik Lett

    DHS is temporarily funded until February 13 – but whether the DHS is shut down or not, ICE and CBP will still be able to pursue their immigration crackdown largely undisrupted due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). By shifting immigration enforcement and defense spending outside the normal appropriations process, Republicans have short-circuited the system of checks and balances that restrain the growth and abuse of government power. The long-term result will be less oversight, weaker constraints on fiscal irresponsibility, and greater partisanship.

  • IMMIGRATIONTexas Lawmaker Introduces Agricultural Visa Reform

    By Andrew Rice, The Center Square

    A Texas lawmaker introduced legislation to reform the H-2A visa program for agricultural workers. U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) introduced the Bracero Program 2.0 Act, a bill to make wage reforms and technical upgrades to the H-2a temporary agricultural visa program.

  • BAD LAWSHow Special Interests Keep Bad Laws on the Books: The Case of the Jones Act

    By Colin Grabow

    The 1920 Jones Act restricts intra-U.S. water transport to vessels that are U.S.-flagged, U.S.-owned, and built in U.S. shipyards The law serves as a tribute to how entrenched interests can hijack public policy and make the repeal of failed, costly laws among the heaviest of political lifts.

  • INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITYCongress Has a Chequered History of Overseeing U.S. Intelligence and National Security

    By Luca Trenta

    The role of Congress is to conduct oversight. It is the role of the governing administration to keep Congress informed of intelligence matters, particularly covert operations. History shows this has often been hard to achieve.

  • ELECTION INTEGRITYWill the SAVE Act Protect the Integrity of Voting or Make Registration Too Difficult? Northeastern Experts Explain

    By Erin Kayata

    The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, a requirement some Northeastern University experts said could pose a challenge. The Senate is considering an act that would change voter registration.

  • CHINA WATCHBill Introduced to Ban Student Visas to Chinese Nationals

    By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

    U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-WV, filed a bill on Friday to ban Chinese nationals from receiving student visas. “Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas. We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security,” he said.

  • INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITYMcConnell’s Comments on Gabbard Nomination

    “The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the President receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment,” Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said. “Tulsi Gabbard failed to demonstrate that she is prepared to assume this tremendous national trust.”

  • GUNSHouse Democrat Pushes Bill Requiring Liability Policy to Buy or Possess Firearms

    By Tim Clouser, The Center Square

    Under a bill proposed Monday, the legislative majority is pushing to require proof of “financial responsibility” before purchasing or possessing a firearm by requiring certain liability policies.