Press Freedom — Week of Apr 20, 2026

Senator Richard Durbin delivered a floor speech on FISA this week describing how the FBI, under Director Kash Patel, tripled the number of warrantless searches specifically targeting journalists, religious leaders, and political figures in 2025 compared to 2024. At the same time, the senator documented that the Trump administration has dismantled the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, fired compliance staff, closed oversight offices, refused to send officials to testify before Congress, and kept secret a court ruling that even the administration admits found problems with how surveillance searches are being conducted.

This might matter because the safeguards preventing government spy tools from being used against American reporters are being weakened at the same time those tools are being used more aggressively against journalists. These protections — independent oversight boards, court review, congressional hearings — exist specifically to ensure that intelligence authorities designed for foreign targets don't become instruments for monitoring or intimidating the domestic press.

There are important alternative explanations to consider. Most likely, the increase in searches touching journalists may stem from genuine national security needs — foreign intelligence investigations that happen to involve people in contact with reporters — rather than an effort to target the press. Additionally, Senator Durbin is making a political argument against renewing surveillance authority without new safeguards, so his framing naturally emphasizes the most alarming interpretation of the data. The administration might provide different context if it chose to testify.

However, the refusal to testify and the withholding of court findings make it harder for the public to evaluate these benign explanations. When oversight bodies are disbanded and compliance staff are fired during the same period that surveillance of journalists increases, the usual mechanisms for distinguishing legitimate use from abuse are no longer functioning.

Limitations: This analysis is based on claims made in a single senator's speech. The underlying surveillance statistics have not been independently verified in this review, and the executive branch's perspective is unavailable because officials have declined to appear before Congress.