In this matter, the FISA Court reviewed the government's July 15, 2010 certification and amended minimization procedures under FISA § 702(i). For an overview of FISA Court review under § 702(i), see NS-DC-0072 in this Clearinghouse. The court documents in this Clearinghouse case record have not been declassified and released by the government; they are marked Secret and Top Secret. The Washington Post posted them on-line.

The government submitted the 2010-A certification, covering surveillance of foreign governments, factions, entities, and political organizations, on July 15, 2010. In support of the certification, the government filed affidavits from the NSA Director as well as a document listing foreign governments, factions, entities, and political organizations for statutory purposes. These documents are included in the case record; earlier versions in 2008 and 2009 are not available, so they contain new information. The government also filed affidavits from the Directors of the CIA and the FBI, but those documents are not available.

The government filed minimization procedures for the NSA, CIA, and FBI, amending the minimization procedures used in their certifications from 2008 and 2009. Those amended minimization procedures are also not available.

The FISA Court (Judge John D. Bates) issued an order approving the certification and the new minimization procedures on August 19, 2010. The Court found that the certification and the procedures met the statutory requirements of FISA(50 U.S.C. § 1881a(d)-(e)) and comported with the Fourth Amendment, as required by the statute.

Edward Mroczkowski - 04/13/2015


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