Judge renews procedures for 702 surveillance program that could soon lapse

The program still requires reauthorization from Congress, and the judge notably took issue with how spy agencies use filtering tools to sift through raw data collected by the program.

The Trump administration notified Congress that the government’s top intelligence court last month renewed its endorsement of a contentious surveillance program, letting it operate for another year even though it’s set to expire soon without reapproval from lawmakers, according to two people familiar with the matter.

But the judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court who issued the March 17 ruling raised concerns about filtering tools the FBI, NSA and other agencies use to sift through raw data collected under the program — known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — one of the people said.

Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details about the sensitive nature of the recertification, some components of which ...