HPSCI Memorandum Sparks Debate Over FISA Application Requirements [February 14, 2018]   [open pdf - 373KB]

"The recent disclosure by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) of a declassified memorandum written by HPSCI majority staff has sparked a renewed conversation about the government's longstanding authority to conduct electronic surveillance on U.S. citizens pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), as amended. [...] A central factual question that appears to be disputed by the competing memoranda is the degree to which information potentially undermining the FISA application's reliability was omitted from the application. Although CRS is not in a position to answer that factual question, this Sidebar endeavors to explain the legal requirements regarding the government's obligation to include countervailing information in FISA applications."