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Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Drastic amendments to the Act in 2001 is what generated most of the debate. .
             One of the most fundamental provisions of the Act was Section 203 (b) and (d) that necessitated the sharing of intelligence between security agencies (Larry and Godoy 2006). This provision was the base at which the Act seeks to eliminate the hurdles that stopped government agencies from sharing information obtained from criminal investigation and questioning. These hurdles were blamed for the poor job the security apparatus did in detaining the September 11th suspects. Investigation into the terrorist attacks indicated that different government agencies had different incoherent information, that when combined would have made meaningful intelligence. The Center for American Progress, in its report, insist while the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had a list of wanted terrorist that was accurate, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) knew of a major plot against the U.S. This information was however not shared between these organizations, leading to the terrorists hijacking planes and ramming them into significant buildings in the country.
             The second provision that is in the FISA is the "roving wiretap" provision of Section 206. This provision gives authority to the security agencies to use a single court order to wiretap all the electronic devices of one individual. In the past, the provision of the FISA required that each device wiretapped required a different court order. This proved to be a major bottleneck in getting intelligence for very sophisticated terrorist or suspected dangers to the homeland. Some spies are known to have very technologically advanced devices that getting separate court orders would prove to be a nightmare. This provision does not require the agency to identify the suspect under investigation to be granted the authorization to wiretap the premise (Larry and Godoy 2006).


Essays Related to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

1. Concepts of State Surveillance

Some may dispute that the ethics of state surveillance actions should be reviewed according to the means, the perspective and the circumstances of collecting data or information with the use or goal of the act. ... The dispute about warrantless surveillance discussed by the National Security Agency (NSA) has arisen many issues after the September 11th attack on the United States of America and state surveillance monitored not only foreign personals but also the United States citizens. ... With the aim of, an act being right or wrong depends on the ethical norms of the society where it is exper...

  • Word Count: 2114
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Patriot Act

What type of intelligence would have to be acquired as a protective measure? ... Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was passed in 1978. It allows a secret court to engage in surveillance on any foreign individual, an agent of foreign power as defined in the act. Surveillance under FISA is permitted based on finding probable cause that a target is indeed a foreign power, irrespective of whether the target is suspected of criminal activity. ... The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is composed of seven federal district courts appointed by the Chief Justice. ...

  • Word Count: 4145
  • Approx Pages: 17
  • Has Bibliography

3. The Patriot Act

Among others, the act expanded the governments ability to conduct surveillance, allows the CIA and FBI to share information about suspected terrorists, and gives the government the ability to monitor computer use and library transactions. ... Critics have a problem with the provision in the law in which it gives intelligence and law enforcement agencies more power to investigate. ... In the eyes of its supporters the act achieves the goal of reforming and updating the way intelligence is gathered, which has been long overdue. ... It does not expand the amount of people or groups of people w...

  • Word Count: 887
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Patriot act

The Act expands the surveillance powers of government agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and allows the FBI to monitor phone calls, electronic mail, websites and online purchases (ACLU). ... In addition, expanded government surveillance allows the FBI to demand information from third parties. ... However, the Patriot Act further relaxes the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows law enforcement to conduct searches without a warrant on foreign agents (Dlouhy). ... Besides warrants, the Patriot Act increases law enforcement's surveillance authority, speci...

  • Word Count: 1410
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. The Patriot Act

The Patriot Act also overrides the existing state and federal privacy laws, so long as the FBI claims the information is connected to an intelligence investigation. ... Another aspect of the Patriot Act that has no apparent connection to the preventing of terrorism is surveillance. The act allows Americans to be more easily spied on by Intelligence agencies. As domestic law enforcement surveillance powers have expanded, so have powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. For example the government has the power to spy on any American or foreign person in the United States, o...

  • Word Count: 1886
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Patriot Act

Group Debate Essay Privacy - Surveillance In response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, The USA PATRIOT Act was quickly developed as a means by which the government could hope to put an end to terrorism. ... Giving almost unlimited anti-privacy powers to domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies, PATRIOT virtually eliminates checks and balances that previously gave courts the opportunity to ensure that those powers were not abused. ... Title II of the Patriot Act outlines this in it's policy on enhanced surveillance procedures. ... The 87 page bill, also dubb...

  • Word Count: 835
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Surveillance and the National Security Agency (NSA)

The National Security Agency's surveillance of millions of Americans' telephone calls has caused a debate about the constitutionality of their actions. ... The NSA weakens the Fourth Amendment protections and affects citizens including journalists, lawyers, and businessmen who often work and communicate with foreigners (Hafetz par.11).The second is that "under the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the NSA has been prohibited from recording domestic communications", but almost all collections are from Americans' data (Stray par.6). ... Moreover, Pre...

  • Word Count: 834
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

8. NSA

The United States of America has many security agencies all of which conduct surveillance. ... You can easily say that the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and the Privacy Act are violated. ... Reagan released an order, which allowed surveillance of "anyone inside the United States who may be in possession of "significant foreign intelligence" such as journalist or academics or businessmen returning from trips overseas" (14, McCuen). ... It coordinates, directs, and performs highly specialized activities to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign intelligence information. .....

  • Word Count: 1842
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Privacy in America and Mobile Data Retentions

Their main goal is to intercept, analyze, and store any sort of communication signals, whether overseas or within the United States, to gain foreign intelligence and counterintelligence and provide as much security to the nation as possible (NSA, 2011). ... The article proceeds to describe a case where the Foreign Intelligence Court, which has authority over the many actions the agency takes, was unaware of a surveillance process that was being used for months that required authorization before usage. ... This action is a clear violation of the Patriot Act, whether the misinterpretation is th...

  • Word Count: 2212
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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