Only few saw the key FISA court rulings

[babylonsister]

Only few saw the key FISA court rulings
By Helen Fessenden
December 11, 2007


Only a handful of lawmakers have seen a set of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rulings on eavesdropping that have been cited by the Bush administration and Republicans as one of the principle reasons to transfer authority away from the court to the attorney general and director of national intelligence (DNI).

The House and Senate intelligence committees are the only full panels that have read the rulings issued earlier this year on the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, according to panel members and aides.

In addition, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told The Hill on Friday they have seen the rulings, as have the Judiciary members who also sit on Intelligence.

But the Senate Judiciary panel has only recently obtained access, and staff review is limited. As of last Thursday, at least six panel members said they had not yet seen the rulings. The House Judiciary Committee, which along with Leahy’s committee shares jurisdiction over the court with the intelligence panels, has not had any access to the rulings, according to staff aides.

The decisions, widely discussed even though they remain classified to this day, likely will come under greater scrutiny as Congress battles over legislation to update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) before an interim rewrite of the bill expires Feb. 5.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), a joint member, is requesting that Congress get fuller access to FISA Court decisions. The senator declined to address the particular rulings made earlier in the spring and summer. But at a public hearing on Nov. 13, he said the administration’s “attempts to hide from Congress, even as it demands new FISA legislation be passed, are unacceptable.”

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