Intelligence, Surveillance, and Privacy

Technological advancements have made society more efficient, but they have also enabled increased digital surveillance by foreign governments and malicious individual actors. CSIS examines the relationships among technological innovation, civil liberties, and intelligence systems.

Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images

Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images

Section 702: Why Do We Need It?

FISA Section 702 is up for renewal again. Congress renewed it in 2012, 2018, and 2024 with bipartisan support. Now, President Trump supports a clean reauthorization of the program. In other words, the government wants to extend it as it is, and it's the right policy.

Critical Questions by Emily Harding — April 24, 2026

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Emily Harding

Emily Harding

Vice President, Defense and Security Department; Director, Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program
Daniel Byman

Daniel Byman

Director, Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program

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Section 702: Why Do We Need It?

FISA Section 702 is up for renewal again. Congress renewed it in 2012, 2018, and 2024 with bipartisan support. Now, President Trump supports a clean reauthorization of the program. In other words, the government wants to extend it as it is, and it's the right policy.

Critical Questions by Emily Harding — April 24, 2026

Pekingology

The Locknet: How China Controls its Internet

Henrietta is joined by Jessica Batke and Laura Edelson to discuss how the government and internet platforms collaborate on censorship, how tensions between the CCP's political and economic goals play out online, and how Chinese censorship is changing the internet abroad. 

Podcast Episode by Henrietta Levin — August 7, 2025

CSIS Pekingology
The Truth of the Matter

AI Competition and Security: A discussion with Kemba Walden and Devin Lynch

Kemba Walden, president of the Paladin Global Institute and former Acting National Cyber Director, and Devin Lynch, senior director of the Paladin Global Institute and former director in the Office of the National Cyber Director, join the podcast to discuss their new report, “The AI Tech Stack: A Primer for Tech and Cyber Policy.”

Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz, Kemba Walden, and Devin Lynch — July 10, 2025

CSIS the truth of the matter

Crossing the Deepfake Rubicon

New research finds that we can now no longer trust our eyes and ears to reliably distinguish between real and AI-generated images, audio, and video. What does this mean in a world where the weaponization of synthetic media is becoming increasingly prevalent?

Brief by CSIS Scholars — November 1, 2024

The Digital Dispatch

Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Privacy and AI

In the third episode of the Digital Dispatch, Caitlin Chin-Rothmann and Jim Lewis analyze the recent activity on Capitol Hill around privacy legislation and AI.

Podcast Episode by Caitlin Chin-Rothmann and James Andrew Lewis — July 25, 2024

The Digital Dispatch Cover
Audio Briefs

Protecting Data Privacy as a Baseline for Responsible AI

An audio version of “Protecting Data Privacy as a Baseline for Responsible AI,” a new Critical Questions by CSIS’s Caitlin Chin-Rothmann. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs. 

Podcast Episode by Caitlin Chin-Rothmann — July 23, 2024

Audio Briefs

Protecting Data Privacy as a Baseline for Responsible AI

This Critical Questions explains the U.S. and EU approaches to data governance and AI regulation, as well as the need for clearer U.S. data privacy laws to address algorithmic surveillance and decisionmaking.

Critical Questions by Caitlin Chin-Rothmann — July 18, 2024

Combating Disinformation

Disinformation is a daunting challenge for the United States and its allies and partners. This report assesses Chinese and Russian disinformation efforts in the Indo-Pacific and charts an agenda for the United States and Japan in combating it.

Report by Christopher B. Johnstone and Leah Klaas — July 8, 2024