Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
253 Articles
A “Hardy Perennial”: US Intelligence Operations Targeting Foreign Leaders
At Tuesday’s House Intelligence Committee hearing, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, it is a “hardy perennial as long as I have been in the intelligence…
Live Feed of HPSCI Hearing on Potential Changes to FISA [Update: hearing now complete]
[Update (5:15 pm): The HPSCI Hearing on Potential Changes to FISA is now complete. Recorded video of the hearing testimony is provided below in two parts, due to the length of…
We Are All Foreigners: NSA Spying and the Rights of Others
The New York Times reports today that President Obama is expected to ban eavesdropping on the phones of our allies’ presidents and prime ministers. There is no indication,…
My Written Statement for Tomorrow’s HPSCI “NSA Programs” Hearing
Tomorrow afternoon beginning at 1:30, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (“HPSCI”) is holding a rare open hearing, the subject of which is “NSA…
The Solicitor General Should Correct the Record in Clapper
In yesterday’s New York Times, Charlie Savage confirmed something we’ve suspected for some time—that until very recently the Justice Department was failing to provide statutorily…
We All Go Down Together: NSA Programs Overseas Violate Americans’ Privacy, Yet Escape FISC, Congressional Oversight
Ongoing revelations show that significant NSA surveillance activities take place outside of either Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) or congressional oversight, even…
Government Shutdown Postpones Declassification Review of FISC Opinion
Today, the FISC granted the government’s motion to delay a declassification review of prior FISC opinions regarding the legality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Contrary…
“Relevance” at the Royale Inn
The NSA’s controversial call records program is predicated on the extraordinary premise that the phone logs of nearly all Americans are “relevant” to an intelligence…
New NSA Reform Proposal from Sen. Leahy and Rep. Sensenbrenner
While the continued government shutdown has sidelined an estimated 800,000 federal employees and resulted in the cancellation of President Obama’s trip to Asia this weekend,…
NSA Bulk Collection, the “Corporate Store,” and the Forgotten ECPA Loophole
This weekend’s New York Times report on NSA aggregation of large databases to map the social networks of US citizens contains a reminder that the vast bulk phone records…
The Kris Paper, and the Problematic FISC Opinion on the Section 215 “Metadata” Collection Program [UPDATED Oct. 14]
If you haven’t done so already, you really ought to read David Kris’s very thoughtful and comprehensive paper on the Section 215 metadata collection program, a précis…
Intelligence Oversight and Surveillance Act — Language Now Available
Yesterday, I wrote about the proposed Intelligence Oversight and Surveillance Reform Act. The language of the proposed bill is not yet available on the Library of Congress’…