Is the Patriot Act gone forever? What exactly is the USA Freedom Act? Can the government still monitor terrorist groups? Here’s what you need to know

US surveillance reform: what has happened and what happens next?

Sweeping US surveillance powers used by the National Security Agency expired at midnight after a dramatic showdown in the Senate. The powers are likely to be replaced with those in new legislation, the USA Freedom Act. So what exactly happened – and what is going to happen next?

Did the entire Patriot Act expire on Sunday night?

No, it didn’t. Most of the Patriot Act – the sweeping and controversial Bush-era anti-terror law – still remains on the books. But Section 215, which allows the FBI to collect business records, like tax, medical and library records, has now expired. Also gone are two other authorities for the FBI: the “roving wiretap” provision, which permits surveillance on a target across devices, and the “lone wolf” provision, which permits surveillance on a target believed to be a terrorist but without established connections to a terrorist group (which the FBI has never even used).

So this means I still shouldn’t call terrorists on my phone?

Correct. The US government still has a huge array of authorities that it can use to track and monitor terrorist groups. Government surveillance programs didn’t totally go dark at midnight on Monday – they just have fewer tools at their disposal.

Are these provisions of the Patriot Act gone forever?

Some aspects are – for example, collecting telephone records in bulk – but mostly they’ll come back in the USA Freedom Act, a reform bill that the Senate voted to advance on Sunday night. It passed overwhelmingly in the House, but some critics of surveillance programs – like Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul – think it is too weak.

Does advancing a bill mean it will pass?

In this case, yes. The Senate’s rules are notoriously complex and the vote last night was “on cloture on the motion to proceed”, which means it sought to limit debate on a motion to actually reconsider the bill. This means the bill jumped through the first of many procedural hurdles in that chamber and is now on a glide path to passage.

So what does the USA Freedom Act do?

The USA Freedom Act would keep the NSA from engaging in the bulk collection of phone records. Instead, the individual phone companies will continue to hold records of the senders, recipients, times and lengths of phone calls, information they already generate. When the government wants to access the data, it must apply to a secret surveillance court. It remains unknown how narrowly the secret Fisa court, which approves almost all surveillance requests, will interpret the basic definitions for what the government can now collect. But another part of the bill requires notification to Congress of any significant reinterpretation of the law by the Fisa court.

Is this a big deal?

Yes, it is. This is the first rollback of NSA surveillance by Congress since 1978 and represents the only legislative reform so far resulting from Edward Snowden’s revelations to the Guardian in 2013.



Additional reporting from Spencer Ackerman in New York