Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - Essay Example

Other than the USA PATRIOT Act amendment of 2001, there have been several other amendments such as the Protect America Act of 2007 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 is the most significant amendment of the three. This amendment gave powers to state authorities that were sufficient in protecting the homeland. The powers also gave these authorities the ability to protect the country from future attacks. These powers included the ability to monitor internet data and use, interception of emails and phone calls.

The Act further granted state authorities the right to place wiretaps on conversations between American citizens and non-citizens3. In addition to surveillance, the state authorities were granted powers to detain individuals it deemed suspicious and dangerous. In comparison to other Acts, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is the most controversial. This essay will assess and analyze its electronic surveillance provision. The Electronic Surveillance provision in the FISA Act grants state authorities to conduct electronic surveillance because of two scenarios.

In the first scenario, the President can authorize state authorities to conduct electronic surveillance for one year. The President does this through the office of the Attorney General and the surveillance can only be done on foreigners4. This surveillance picks up any foreign intelligence information being exchanged between agents of a foreign power and the foreign power. This surveillance, according to the Act, may or may not substantiate to anything feasible5. It is the Attorney General’s responsibility to create a certification of the conditions necessary for the surveillance.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizes this certification by its seal. The A.G is then supposed to report to both the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select