The Lawfare Podcast · The Lawfare Institute

Lawfare Daily: Matt Olsen Talks Iran, the Justice Department, and FISA 702

March 12, 2026·46 min·4 clips

Matt Olson warns that Iran is likely planning a terrorist attack in the U.S. right now, based on recent intelligence.

Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare, interviews Matt Olsen, former Assistant Attorney General for National Security and current partner at WilmerHale, about two converging national security threats: Iranian retaliation for U.S. military strikes and the potential lapse of FISA Section 702. Olsen outlines Iran's long history of plotting terrorist attacks and assassinations inside the United States, driven by its intelligence services and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He cites counterterrorism expert Matthew Levitt's count of 17 Iranian-directed plots in the past five years. Olsen details four significant cases from his tenure at DOJ between 2021 and 2024: a murder-for-hire plot involving a Hells Angels member targeting a Maryland dissident, an assassination attempt against a New York City dissident, a plot against former National Security Advisor John Bolton in retaliation for the death of Qasem Soleimani, and the case of Asif Merchant, who was trained by the IRGC and sent to carry out assassinations including against then-candidate Donald Trump. Merchant was convicted by a jury just days before this recording. Olsen emphasizes that these investigations are complex, long-running operations requiring years of experience, sophisticated tools like FISA surveillance, and carefully developed sources. The FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors who conducted this work had decades of specialized expertise. He describes a systematic dismantling of this capability under the current administration. At the National Security Division, front office leadership with roughly a hundred combined years of experience was forced out in the early days of the administration. Some officials were reassigned to irrelevant work such as immigration task forces. Others were fired outright with an hour to clean out their desks. Olsen estimates that up to half of the line attorneys in the counterterrorism section are gone. At the FBI, top counterterrorism leadership was pushed out, and Iran-specialist agents from the Washington field office were fired days before the bombing of Tehran began, reportedly for having been assigned to the Mar-a-Lago investigation. The discussion shifts to FISA Section 702, which sunsets on April 19th. Olsen has worked on 702 since its passage in 2008 and describes it as the most important authority for collecting foreign intelligence on U.S. infrastructure. The program targets non-U.S. persons overseas who use American networks to communicate, providing insight into threats from Iran, Al-Qaeda, China, Russia, and narco-traffickers. Olsen notes that the last reauthorization passed by a tie vote of 212-212 in the House. The political landscape has worsened, with Republicans continuing campaigns against FISA rooted in the Carter Page controversy and Democrats reluctant to grant surveillance powers to an administration that federal judges have found makes misrepresentations in court. Wittes raises the question of whether members of Congress can responsibly vote to trust Pam Bondi and Kash Patel with the program's certifications. Olsen argues that 702 has more oversight than other intelligence programs, including FISA court approval, an amicus lawyer representing privacy interests since the 2024 reauthorization, released opinions, and Congressional access to hearings. He acknowledges this may not be sufficient comfort given current leadership but argues 702 would be the last intelligence authority one would want to abuse precisely because of its oversight structure. If the statute lapses, Olsen warns that telecommunications providers will begin refusing to comply with directives, even though existing certifications technically remain in effect for about a year. He describes this degradation as beginning immediately at midnight on April 19th, based on his experience with a previous lapse. He also raises the concern that the president might invoke Article II authority to conduct equivalent surveillance without any of the statutory oversight, which he describes as the true nightmare scenario. On the timeline for Iranian retaliation, Olsen notes that plotting to avenge Soleimani's death continued for years afterward, suggesting that the threat window following the killing of the Supreme Leader extends well beyond 18 months.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Lawfare Podcast