Trump leaks put critical surveillance tool at risk

A key government surveillance tool set to expire in 2017 could be jeopardized by a string of intelligence leaks that have damaged the Trump administration, and led to questions about whether federal officials can protect the information they collect.

Top members of the House Intelligence Committee are warning they won't renew a provision in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until they get to the bottom of how classified information identifying Trump administration officials was leaked to the media earlier this year.

"We are not going to reauthorize these surveillance programs if the American people are not satisfied that their security is going to be safeguarded," Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said recently on Fox News.

Section 702 of the FISA law gives the Intelligence Community the authority to eavesdrop on communications of foreigners outside the United States.

The law is aimed at giving U.S. intelligence officials the tools needed to thwart terror plots and other threats, but it also grants authority to monitor American citizens swept up in the communication with foreigners who are under U.S. surveillance.