SEC. 103. SUBMITTAL TO CONGRESS OF CERTAIN COURT ORDERS UNDER THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE

[LSK]

(a) Inclusion of Certain Orders in Semiannual Reports of Attorney General- Subsection (a)(5) of section 601 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1871) is amended by striking `(not including orders)' and inserting `, orders,'.

(b) Reports by Attorney General on Certain Other Orders- Such section 601 is further amended by adding at the end the following:

`(c) Submissions to Congress- The Attorney General shall submit to the committees of Congress referred to in subsection (a)--

`(1) a copy of any decision, order, or opinion issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review that includes significant construction or interpretation of any provision of this Act, and any pleadings, applications, or memoranda of law associated with such decision, order, or opinion, not later than 45 days after such decision, order, or opinion is issued; and

`(2) a copy of each such decision, order, or opinion, and any pleadings, applications, or memoranda of law associated with such decision, order, or opinion, that was issued during the 5-year period ending on the date of the enactment of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 and not previously submitted in a report under subsection (a).

`(d) Protection of National Security- The Attorney General, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, may authorize redactions of materials described in subsection (c) that are provided to the committees of Congress referred to in subsection (a), if such redactions are necessary to protect the national security of the United States and are limited to sensitive sources and methods information or the identities of targets.'.

(c) Definitions- Such section 601, as amended by subsections (a) and (b), is further amended by adding at the end the following:

`(e) Definitions- In this section:

`(1) FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT- The term `Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court' means the court established under section 103(a).

`(2) FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT OF REVIEW- The term `Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review' means the court established under section 103(b).'.

[peacebird]

1. golly gosh, and we believe the administration will obey these reporting requirements because..?

:eyes:

they have *such* a good track record of honesty and openess....

[LSK]

3. it looks pretty clearly like the AG by law must submit any FISA request to Congress

[Igel]

6. No.

Key words: "significant construction or interpretation of any provision of this Act". In the following section, "such" refers back to, well, any decision/order/etc. containing a "significant construction or interpretation of any provision of this Act".

It's Congress saying that it was caught with its pants down last time and they didn't like their collective ass hanging out in the breeze. Any new interpretation has to go to Congress; then they can change the law, or at least know how the law's being understood by the FIS court.

Most warrants and most of the FISA activity will not include "significant construction or interpretation". Trivial construction/interpretation, or mere approval of warrants and other requests.

[pleah]

2. I wonder if Congress will send them a strongly worded letter if they

don't turn over the information.






A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.
- Edward R. Murrow

[villager]

5. It will be... vociferous! With much finger-wagging!

n/t

[MrCoffee]

4. "Protection of National Security"

Why do I see a stack of black paper being delivered to the Intelligence and Judiciary committies?

[Igel]

8. Because what they're interested in isn't likely to be excised.

They want to know how the FIS court rules on interpretation and understanding of the law. Most of that will be in relation to a specific instance, but the instance itself is often just fodder (from this perspective) for hanging a construction or interpretation on.

[ColbertWatcher]

7. Only one rec? Shame on you DUers. n/t