Separating Foreign Intelligence from Domestic Law Enforcement in an Era of Metadata: A History of the Foreign Intelligence Act (FISA)

• In Event: Hyper-Surveilance and Confinement: Then and Now

Abstract

How should the law separate foreign intelligence data-gathering from domestic criminal investigations, if at all? Contemporary debates about the National Security Agency’s role in domestic surveillance are almost identical to the issues raised in the 1960s in the wake of the COINTELPRO program, which led to Congressional investigations resulting in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA.) This paper presents a history of the FISA Act of 1978 and its subsequent amendments as a lens through which to explore this tension and suggests policy alternatives for resolving it.

Author

• Daria Vaisman, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center