Suggested reforms regarding the operation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the USA FREEDOM Act

SUMMARY

The Federal Courts Committee (Ira M. Feinberg, Chair) and Task Force on National Security and the Rule of Law (Jonathan L. Hafetz, Chair) wrote a letter urging Congress to enact further reforms concerning the operation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”), in addition to those adopted in the USA FREEDOM Act enacted in June of last year.  While the USA FREEDOM Act terminated the bulk telephony metadata program by amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and adopting several significant reforms in the operations of the FISC, the letter recommends that Congress continue to direct its legislative attention to certain aspects of the FISC and its procedures.  These reforms should be targeted at the one-sided nature of FISC proceedings, the limited process for appellate review of FISC orders, and the vulnerability of FISC court appointments to personal or political bias, that were not addressed in full by the USA FREEDOM Act.