Protect America Act of 2007

A bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to provide additional procedures for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence information and for other purposes also known as the Protect America Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110–55 (text) (PDF), S. 1927) was enacted by the 110th United States Congress and signed into law by George W. Bush on 2007-08-05.

It modifies the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to allow for wiretapping without a warrant when the target of the acquisition is a foreign intelligence target located outside the United States.

Provisions

On July 28, 2007, President Bush called on Congress to pass legislation to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) purportedly to ease restrictions on secret surveillance of alleged terrorist suspects. The original FISA bill was passed in 1978, with Bush calling it "badly out of date." He asked that Congress pass the legislation before its August 2007 recess, stating that “Every day that Congress puts off these reforms increases the danger to our nation. Our intelligence community warns that under the current statute, we are missing a significant amount of foreign intelligence that we should be collecting to protect our country.”

On August 3, 2007, the Senate passed a Republican-sponsored version of FISA (S. 1927) in a vote of 60 to 28. The House followed by passing the bill, 227-183. The bill altered the original 1978 law in many ways, including:

Warrant and notification requirements

The bill amended FISA to substitute the requirement of a warrant to conduct surveillance with a system of NSA (National Security Agency) internal controls.

The bill required notification to the FISA Court of warrantless surveillance within 72 hours of any authorization. The bill also required that "a sealed copy of the certification" be sent which would "remain sealed unless the certification is needed to determine the legality of the acquisition."

Domestic wiretapping

The bill allowed the monitoring of electronic communications on people "reasonably believed to be outside the United States," without a court's order or oversight. It continues to require a court order to conduct electronic surveillance or physical search when targeting persons located in the United States.

Foreign wiretapping

The bill clarified confusion in current law by allowing the National Security Agency to collect purely foreign communications in the future without a warrant.

Data monitoring

In the bill, the monitoring of data related to Americans communicating with foreigners who are the targets of a U.S. terrorism investigation was addressed. This data could be monitored only if intelligence officials have a reasonable expectation of learning information relevant to that probe.

Authorization power

Under the bill, the director of national intelligence and the attorney general could authorize the surveillance of all communications involving foreign targets. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, composed of federal judges whose deliberations are secret, could only examine whether the government's guidelines for targeting overseas suspects are appropriate.

The guidelines for authorizing surveillance were:

• There was reason to believe that the target of the acquisition was outside the U.S. and that the procedures used would be subject to the review of the court (FISA Court).

• That the acquisition involved obtaining the foreign intelligence with the assistance of a telecommunications service provider or other persons who would have access to communications, either as they were transmitted or while they were stored, or access to equipment being used to transmit or store the communications.

• That the significant purpose of the procedure would be to acquire foreign intelligence information.

The certification of the determination (sent to the Court) would be written, signed under oath and supported by affidavit of security officials appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, or the head of any intelligence community agency.

If the determination required immediate action and time would not permit preparing a certification, the certification supporting the determination would be submitted in writing to the Court no more than 72 hours after it was made. The AG would transmit as soon as possible to the Court a sealed copy of the certification that would remain sealed unless the certification was needed to determine the legality of the acquisition.

Reporting requirements

The Attorney General would report to Congress semi-annually with:

• A description of any incidents of non-compliance with a directive issued.

• Incidents of non-compliance with the guidelines or procedures established for determining that the acquisition concerns persons outside the United States by any entity of the Intelligence Community.

• Incidents of noncompliance by a specified person to whom the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence issued a directive.

• The number of certifications and directives issued in the preceding 6 months.

Legislative history

Senator Mitch McConnell introduced it on 2007-08-01

• 8/1/2007: Introduced in Senate
• 8/3/2007: Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 60 - 28. Record Vote Number: 309.
• 8/4/2007: Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 227 - 183 (Roll no. 836).
• 8/5/2007:Signed by President.
• 8/5/2007 Became Public Law No: 110-055 [Text, PDF]

Amendments

S.Amdt. 2649 provides a sunset provision. The sunset provision was passed due to concerns of many members of Congress about the long-term effects of the legislation. Some scholars believe that any future extension of the act will be less expansive than the current time-limited version. [1]

See also

• USA PATRIOT Act
• War on Terror

External links

• GovTrack U.S. – S. 1927
• Congresspedia – S. 1927
• Plural Politics Protect American Act Plainspeak Legal Primer