A key U.S. spying program expires Friday night. What does that mean?

The intelligence-gathering program that allows U.S. government surveillance of foreigners abroad by collecting domestic communication information is set to expire at the end of the day Friday after the House and Senate left town without passing an extension

The intelligence-gathering program that allows U.S. government surveillance of foreigners abroad by collecting domestic communication information is set to expire at the end of the day Friday after the House and Senate left town without passing an extension.

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This will be the first time the law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, has lapsed since the counterterrorism and counterespionage measure was passed in 2008. What that means for the ability of intelligence agencies to gather key information is a huge open question.

FISA Section 702 authorizes the warrantless surveillance of foreigners abroad through the collection of information from domestic communications systems with the assistance of service providers.