Reporter's Notebook: Lawmakers scramble as FISA fight comes at the worst possible time

By Fox News · Fox News

There’s the World Cup . America’s 250th birthday. And the conflict with Iran. It’s all a nightmare national security hat trick. "It’s the highest we’ve ever seen," said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Fox News Sunday about the terrorism threat level. "When I say we arrest terrorists every single week, I’m not exaggerating. Those aren’t the individuals that are coming across our border, those are individuals that are still inside this country." But lawmakers are scared now that the nation’s premier anti-terrorism tool — called FISA Section 702 — expired over the weekend. EXPIRING SPY LAW SPARKS WARNINGS OF 'FATAL' CONSEQUENCES AHEAD OF WORLD CUP "I hope and pray to God that nothing happens in this country where an American is killed," said Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. "We want to prevent the next 9/11 from happening," said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., on Fox. "This program goes dark at a time when there are literally hundreds of thousands of people coming to this country for the World Cup," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune , R-S.D. Well, not quite. "FISA is operative until next March. That's the legislation ," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Confused? You’re not the only one. Let me explain. SPY PROGRAM CREDITED WITH STOPPING TAYLOR SWIFT TERROR PLOT BARRELS TOWARD EXPIRATION Legal authority sanctioned by Congress for this powerful intelligence-gathering weapon to foil terrorism expired at 11:59:59 p.m. ET Friday night. If nearly any other statute other than FISA Section 702 expired, the government couldn’t continue to rely on the program. "It's a very inopportune time to allow the authorizing statute for 702 to lapse," conceded George Croner, a former National Security Agency counsel. "It has proven to be the most useful by far of any of the intelligence programs that the community has available to it." That’s why there’s worry about unprecedented vulnerabilities with the program expiring. E…