I asked Sen. Young, who serves on the Congressional Soccer Caucus, whether an expiration of section 702 makes World Cup events less safe:
"I do think so. That's my assessment because we don't have visibility into that, or there's a much greater risk that it's less safe. Because, you see, when 702 is in place, we know where the threats are, where they're coming from, and we can act to stop those threats, to intervene. As a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence in the Senate, I get visibility into the emergence of these threats and our ability to neutralize them on a daily basis. It happens a lot."
Young went on to tell me "there simply is no replacement" for the authorities provided by section 702.