Saturday, December 21, 2019

Six ways we were blind to screaming red flags about government surveillance

The secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court has given the FBI until Jan. 10 to address abuses and lapses identified by the Department of Justice inspector general in a recent report.

FBI Woods Procedures: One red flag came with the creation of FBI "Woods Procedures" nearly two decades ago under then-Director.

These rules were designed to appease the secretive FISA court, which had flagged abuses by FBI officials in wiretap applications submitted to the court.

Congress: Despite many public reports of government surveillance abuses, Congress passed up its most recent opportunity to exercise much-needed oversight.

FISA: The FISA court has documented numerous serious government surveillance abuses over the years, including a scathing review issued by the court in the fall of 2016 accusing the National Security Agency of a problematic "Lack of candor" that raised constitutional questions.

Election year red flags: Following sporadic reports of intelligence officials misleading Congress about surveilling U.S. citizens - even spying on journalists and political figures and their staffs - there was a series of red flags in 2016 and 2017 that should have drawn attention and action.

FBI Director Christopher Wray: As I have written, FBI Director Christopher Wray falsely testified to Congress that there have been no 702 surveillance abuses.


https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/475364-six-ways-we-were-blind-to-screaming-red-flags-about-government

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