Secret Judge Orders FBI To Reform FISA Process

Spurred by a Justice Department inspector general (IG) report that found the FBI made serious mistakes in a FISA surveillance application during its Russia probe, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge ordered the bureau to submit changes to the process for obtaining permission for surveillance.

“The frequency with which representations made by F.B.I. personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and with which they withheld information detrimental to their case, calls into question whether information contained in other F.B.I. applications is reliable,” Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, the court’s presiding judge, said. “The FISC expects the government to provide complete and accurate information in every filing with the Court. Without it, the FISC cannot properly ensure that the government conducts electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes only when there is a sufficient factual basis.”

In a more than 400-page report, Justice Department IG Michael Horowitz said while investigators acted appropriately in opening a probe into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, he found numerous mistakes and omissions in the FISA application to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The report debunked allegations by the president and his supporters that the origins of the Russia probe, initially led by then FBI Director James Comey whose firing prompted the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, did not have political underpinnings. But it sparked a wave of criticism of the FBI and its handling of the Page surveillance application.

Prompted by a Justice Department inspector general (IG) report that found the FBI made serious mistakes in a FISA surveillance application during its Russia probe, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge ordered the bureau to submit changes to the process for obtaining permission for surveillance.

“The frequency with which representations made by F.B.I. personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and with which they withheld information detrimental to their case, calls into question whether information contained in other F.B.I. applications is reliable,” Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, the court’s presiding judge, said.

In a more than 400-page report, Justice Department IG Michael Horowitz said while investigators acted appropriately in opening a probe into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, he found numerous mistakes and omissions in the FISA application to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The report debunked allegations by the president and his supporters that the origins of the Russia probe, initially led by then FBI Director James Comey whose firing prompted the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, did not have political underpinnings. But it sparked a wave of criticism of the FBI and its handling of the Page surveillance application.

Rights groups have long decried surveillance abuses and the potential for abuses in the FISA process. “This was not the first time the government abused its surveillance powers, nor was it the first time the intelligence court was made aware of surveillance abuses,” said ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Neema Singh Guliani. “Congress must radically reform the FISA process to increase accountability, and to ensure that there is a meaningful opportunity to challenge the government’s allegations in FISA applications. We can’t trust the secret intelligence court alone to police this process.”