If Donald Trump wins on Tuesday, he will regain the keys to a global surveillance apparatus with few limits.

Privacy advocates have warned since Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013 that the government’s surveillance tools could be misused by presidents of any stripe. In the intervening decade, however, Congress has failed to rein in those powers.

Now, Trump is preparing to retake office with a plan that includes deploying the military on domestic enemies. He would have at his disposal a program that compels American companies to cooperate with the National Security Agency, rules for “foreign” surveillance that changed at the stroke of a pen, and data peddlers who sell location information to the government.

“The only thing that really stands between a president misusing all of these authorities and not are the individuals who work in these agencies, who have sets of rules and standards that they follow,” said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “But one of the things we have seen, on the side of President Trump, is that is something he is trying to eliminate.”

“KILL FISA”

Trump spoke out loudly this spring against the reauthorization of a key spying law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!” Trump said on social media.

Trump was right that the law was used, by FBI agents who lied to a court to obtain warrants, to spy on his campaign. The debate raging in Congress when Trump sent out his message, however, centered on another part of the law that allows warrantless surveillance.

Ultimately, some Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress warmed up to the surveillance bill thanks to concessions that included a two-year “sunset” allowing Trump the chance to help........

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