FBI’s FISA debacle shakes trust in U.S. surveillance system

President Donald Trump has long maintained the FBI investigation of former Trump policy adviser Carter Page that ultimately led to the Mueller probe was a politically motivated witch hunt.

Whether you agree or disagree, the numerous, serious and potentially systemic failures in the FBI investigation have got to shake your confidence in the system.

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his 400-plus page report on the investigation last week and testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He found the opening by the FBI of the investigation — which needs a low bar — was legitimate and without direct evidence of political bias going forward. But he did uncover what at minimum is a stunning menu of incompetence.

And that is concerning, especially given the importance of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It initially was sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and signed into law by Jimmy Carter in 1978 to provide oversight of covert surveillance of foreign entities and individuals in the United States, while maintaining the secrecy needed to protect national security. It has been amended several times.

One key point: the infamous Steele dossier was in fact crucial to the secret application seeking to conduct surveillance on Page. It was compiled by former British spy and Trump critic Christopher Steele and ultimately paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign through a Washington, D.C., law firm.

Horowitz painted an incredibly disturbing picture. He found 17 significant inaccuracies or omissions in the initial and three renewal applications to the FISA Court, including:

The investigation ostensibly was launched because Page was a suspected Russian “agent.” Page had in fact been a CIA source during his earlier visits to Russia. That information — from the Steele report — wasn’t included in the FISA application. And an FBI lawyer retroactively altered an email to make it look as if Page was not a U.S. informant.

In a 2017 interview, Steele’s primary source contradicted information in the original application. FBI agents didn’t report the inconsistency and instead said the source was “truthful and cooperative.”

Horowitz testified that he couldn’t say whether it was “sheer incompetence vs. intentional misconduct” that led to many “significant serious failures.”

He went on to say: “We’re left trying to understand how could all these errors have occurred ... among three teams, handpicked, on one of the highest profile if not the most high-profile case of the FBI going to the very top of the organization and involving a presidential campaign.” Where does this leave us? A criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut, assigned to the task by Attorney General Bill Barr, continues. It may well find the evidence of motive that eluded Horowitz. Or not.

But even assuming only bungling incompetence was at play here, what happened is incredibly damaging to the FBI. Director Christopher Wray has serious work to do to ensure there is not an ongoing pattern of incompetence/bias and that it can’t happen again — up to and including firing those responsible. He’s announced measures to tighten the rules for FISA surveillance requests — including that information regarding the reliability of a confidential informant be in the wiretap application and verified by the informant’s handler.

Congress must also review FISA to ensure it can’t be misused against American citizens or politically weaponized.

The world is a dangerous place, and FISA is an important tool in keeping Americans safe. But there must be safeguards.