I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5396 

To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to require reviews 

by amici curiae of applications made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 11, 2019 

Mr. STEWART (for himself, Mr. NUNES, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. TURNER, Mr. 

WENSTRUP, Mr. CRAWFORD, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. GAETZ, and Mr. HURD of Texas) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 

to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 

to require reviews by amici curiae of applications made 

to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FISA Improvements 

5 Act of 2019’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 5396 IH

1 SEC. 2. ENHANCED FIDELITY OF FISA APPLICATIONS AND 

2 PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE FOREIGN 

3 INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT. 

4 (a) MANDATORY REVIEW BY AMICUS CURIAE.—Sec5 tion 103(i) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 

6 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803(i)(2)) is amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

8 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; 

9 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

10 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 

11 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

13 subparagraph: 

14 ‘‘(C) shall appoint an individual who has 

15 been designated under paragraph (1) to serve 

16 as amicus curiae to assist such court in the 

17 consideration of any initial application for an 

18 order that seeks to target an identifiable United 

19 States person pursuant to sections 104, 303, 

20 703, or 704.’’; and 

21 (2) in paragraph (4)— 

22 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

23 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec24 tively; 

25 (B) by striking ‘‘If a court’’ and inserting 

26 ‘‘(A) NOVEL OR SIGNIFICANT INTERPRETAVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Dec 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5396.IH H5396

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 5396 IH

1 TIONS OF LAW—If a court’’, and adjusting the 

2 margins accordingly; and 

3 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

4 subparagraph: 

5 ‘‘(B) INITIAL APPLICATIONS.—If a court 

6 established under subsection (a) appoints an 

7 amicus curiae under paragraph (2)(C), the ami8 cus curiae shall review the submitted applica9 tion for which the individual has been appointed 

10 to assess the sufficiency of evidence supporting 

11 the probable cause determination required to 

12 issue an order pursuant to the application and 

13 provide to the court a written recommendation 

14 regarding such sufficiency.’’. 

15 (b) DISCLOSURE OF UNVERIFIED INFORMATION.— 

16 Section 104(a) of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1804(a)) is amend17 ed— 

18 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

19 inserting a semicolon; 

20 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at 

21 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

23 paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(10) a statement fully disclosing the use of 

25 any information in the application that the GovernVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Dec 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5396.IH H5396

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 5396 IH

1 ment cannot substantiate based on any supporting 

2 intelligence or open-source information available to 

3 the Government at the time of the application, in4 cluding, at a minimum— 

5 ‘‘(A) the origin of such information; 

6 ‘‘(B) the means by which the Government 

7 obtained such information; 

8 ‘‘(C) a summary of each step the Govern9 ment took to verify the information prior to 

10 using the information in the application; 

11 ‘‘(D) whether the Government has used 

12 such information in any other judicial pro13 ceeding; and 

14 ‘‘(E) the necessity of using such informa15 tion to support the probable cause determina16 tion required by section 105.’’. 

17 (c) TRANSCRIPTS OF PROCEEDINGS.—Subsection (c) 

18 of section 103 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1803) is amended— 

19 (1) by inserting ‘‘, and shall be transcribed’’ be20 fore the first period; and 

21 (2) by inserting ‘‘, transcriptions,’’ after ‘‘appli22 cations made’’. 

23 (d) WRITTEN RECORD OF INTERACTIONS WITH

24 COURT.—Such section is further amended by adding at 

25 the end the following new subsection: 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•HR 5396 IH

1 ‘‘(l) WRITTEN RECORD OF INTERACTIONS.—The At2 torney General shall maintain all written communications 

3 with the court established under subsection (a), including 

4 the identity of the employees of the court to or from whom 

5 the communications were made, regarding an application 

6 or order made under this title in a file associated with 

7 the application or order. The Attorney General shall docu8 ment a summary of any oral communications with the 

9 court, including the identity of the employees of the court 

10 to or from whom the communications were made, relating 

11 to such an application or order and keep such documenta12 tion in a file associated with the application or order.’’. 

13 (e) EXTENSIONS.—Section 105(d)(2) of such Act (50 

14 U.S.C. 1805(d)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the 

15 following new sentence: ‘‘To the extent practicable, an ex16 tension of an order issued under this title shall be granted 

17 or denied by the same judge who issued the original 

18 order.’’. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS