The secret court that OKs snoops
THE FOREIGN Intelligence Surveillance Court, a panel shrouded in secrecy since its 1978 inception, is a controversial body created by an act of Congress.
The panel operates almost exclusively outside the public eye, with its rulings and interpretations of the law kept hidden — much to the consternation of its critics.
In one of its few decisions that became common knowledge, the court approved a controversial National Security Agency program for the bulk collection of telephone information from millions of U.S. citizens.
The operation was exposed by former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin cited the FISC as the supposed source for approving a White House request to wiretap Trump Tower in the weeks before the November presidential election. The focus, he said, was a computer server with possible links to Russian banks.
But the court’s surveillance warrant applications, by law, don’t come from the President.
They are instead drawn up by NSA attorneys, typically at the request of one of the federal intelligence agencies. The U.S. attorney general then certifies the target as either a “foreign power” or “the agent of a foreign power.”
In the case of U.S. citizens or resident aliens, the target of the application may be involved in the commission of a crime.
The FISC also rules on physical searches and “other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes,” according to a federal summary of its powers.
The Washington, D.C.-based court was launched 39 years ago under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The panel is composed of 11 federal district court judges selected by the Supreme Court chief justice. The judges then serve for a maximum of seven years.
The statute requires the appointment of judges from at least seven U.S. judicial circuits. To guarantee the court can be convened on short notice, three of the judges must live within 20 miles of Washington.
The judges ordinarily sit for one-week stretches on a rotating basis.