Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)

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Just Security

Shhh! Last Week Was All About Secrets

Editors’ Note: The following post is the sixth installment of a new feature, “Monday Reflections,” in which a different Just Security editor will take an in-depth look…
Just Security

It’s Time to Pass the USA Freedom Act—Warts and All

Thirteen years after 9/11, the United States Congress appeared poised to begin the long overdue process of reining-in the intelligence establishment’s runaway surveillance practices.…
Just Security

The Need for Both Legal and Technical Privacy Protections

Last week, Apple and Google came under intense criticism from the law enforcement and national security communities for their decisions to encrypt user data when devices are locked.…
Just Security

FISC OKs Section 215 Investigations of Americans, Despite First Amendment

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court declassified an opinion today which, although highly redacted, illuminates the way at least one Judge is interpreting his mandate to…
Just Security

Judge Bates (Unintentionally) Makes the Case for FISC Reform

Whatever one thinks of the Senate version of the USA FREEDOM Act–which offers a series of substantive and procedural reforms to U.S. surveillance programs–it is now…
Just Security

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court: Is Reform Needed?

With the advent of the Edward Snowden leaks commencing in June 2013, much has been written about Snowden and the United States intelligence community. This short blog post examines…
Just Security

Eleventh Circuit Says No to Warrantless Cell Tracking, Calls Other Metadata Programs Into Question

Today, the Eleventh Circuit rejected the exceedingly common law enforcement practice of warrantlessly tracking suspects’ physical location using cell phone tower data. The opinion,…
Just Security

Information Cascades and Intelligence Oversight

Sen. Blumenthal opened a recent surveillance oversight hearing by hammering an important point from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board’s thorough report on the…
Just Security

Two Developments re Section 215: (i) Changes to the Section 215 Program and (ii) Program’s Scope is Currently More Limited than Originally Thought

In his speech last month on the U.S. signals intelligence programs, President Obama “directed the Attorney General to work with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court…
Just Security

Section 215 Telephone Metadata Collection: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Trashes Pretty Much Everyone

Wow.  There’s really no other way to capture what the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board told the nation today in its 200+ page report on the NSA’s telephone metadata…
Just Security

Friday Evening Document Dump: DNI Declassifies Host of Additional FISC Orders

Late this afternoon, the DNI declassified two dozen FISC orders related to the collection and use of telephony metadata under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.  In today’s…
Just Security

10 Questions for the Review Group Members to Publicly Address at the Senate Hearings

The members of the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies will appear on Tuesday, January 14th for hearings before the Senate Judiciary…
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