Tag: FISA courts

Senate votes to reauthorize intel programs with added legal protections

The Hill logoThe Senate on Thursday passed legislation reauthorizing three intelligence programs that lapsed earlier this year amid a GOP stalemate.

Senators voted 80-16 on the bill, which pairs the reauthorization of the USA Freedom Act provisions with some changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, also known as the FISA court.

The Senate changed the bill, which originally passed the House in March, as part of a two-day floor debate. Senators added more legal protections for some individuals targeted by the court. Continue reading.

3 questions about the FISA court answered

The following article by Lacy Wallace, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Pennsylvania State University, was posted on the Conversation website February 5, 2018:

Credit: AgnosticPreachersKid-Own work, CC via Wikimedia.org

On Feb. 2, President Donald Trump allowed the release of the previously classified “Nunes memo.” The memo, written by Republican congressional aides, criticized information used as the basis for a FISA court surveillance application related to the Mueller probe into Russia’s possible involvement in the 2016 election.

But what exactly is the FISA court? And how does it work?

1. When was the FISA court established?

Congress passed FISA, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978. FISA was originally introduced by Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy. The act was largely a response to President Richard Nixon’s misuse of federal resources to investigate U.S. citizens. Continue reading “3 questions about the FISA court answered”