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2
veillance,
the
Committee
will
continue
to
annual report on the implementation of FISA.
issue
an
unclassified
Il. IMPLEMENTATION
The foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was signed into law by
President
Carter
on
October
25,
1978,
and
became
fully
effective
the application
is ready,
August 16, 1979.2
The first complement of judges of the Foregin Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and the Foreign Intelligence Court of
Review was designated by the Chief Justice on May 16, 1979.8
The applicants for electronic surveillances under FISA are in
almost all cases the National Security Agency or the Federal
Bureau of Investigation. Targets of NSA surveillance are approved
by a committee consisting of representatives of the National Security Council, the Director of Central Intelligence and the Secretaries of State and Defense. The Attorney General is notified of the
Committee’s approval. If FBI operational support is required, the
NSA requests it of the FBI Director in writing. Typically the actual
court application is prepared in the General Counsel’s Office at
NSA using a format previously approved by the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) of the Department of Justice. If
the application involves an unusual target or technique, the drafting will be coordinated with OIPR.
When
it is presented to the Secretary of Defense for his review and certification that the information sought is foreign intelligence and otherwise satisfies the statutory certification requirements.* Once he
has made the certification, the application is forwarded to OIPR.
After OIPR review, it is presented to the Attorney General for approval of its submission to the Court.
FBI field offices initiate FBI requests for surveillances. These are
reviewed at FBI Headquarters and a memorandum is prepared
from an Assistant Director to the Department of Justice setting
forth the basis for the surveillance and requesting that an application be prepared.
Attorneys
at OIPR
review
the memorandum
to
determine whether it meets the statutory standard, with particular
attention to the probable cause requirements. They then prepare a
draft application which is returned to the FBI for review by intelli-
gence personnel and FBI attorneys. Once it has been signed by the
applicant agent and certified by the FBI Director, it is returned to
OIPR for final review. It is then sent to the Attorney General for
his approval of its submission to the Court.
On regularly scheduled Court days applications approved by the
Attorney General are delivered to the Clerk of the FISA Court,
with copies for the Court and the Court’s legal adviser. They
review the application in chambers. When the Court convenes, the
applicant
and
the
OIPR
attorney
who
prepared
the
application
appear before the Court, answer any questions the Court may pose,
and swear to the accuracy of the application. If the Court is satisfied, it issues the order or orders prepared by the Executive Branch
which are appended to the application. The primary order consists
2 See Section 301 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. 1801 note.
3 See Appendix A for the list of judges as of May 1, 1984.
™ See Section 104 of the Act.
Approved For Release 2008/09/15 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000200330014-1