Title: FISA Improvements Act of 2019
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
FISA Improvements Act of 2019
This bill makes various changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, such as by requiring amicus curiae (i.e., outside parties that assist in consideration of a case) involvement in certain matters.
An amicus curiae shall assist the court when it is considering an initial application seeking permission to target an identifiable U.S. person for certain types of foreign intelligence investigative activities (such as electronic surveillance or a physical search).
An application to the court for an order for electronic surveillance shall include a statement fully disclosing any information used in the application that the government cannot substantiate.
The bill also requires transcriptions of proceedings before the court. The Department of Justice shall maintain all written communications with the court and written summaries of oral communications with the court.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5396 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``FISA Improvements Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. ENHANCED FIDELITY OF FISA APPLICATIONS AND PROCESSES ASSOCIATED 
              WITH THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT.

    (a) Mandatory Review by Amicus Curiae.--Section 103(i) of the 
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803(i)(2)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``; and'' and 
                inserting a semicolon;
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(C) shall appoint an individual who has been 
                designated under paragraph (1) to serve as amicus 
                curiae to assist such court in the consideration of any 
                initial application for an order that seeks to target 
                an identifiable United States person pursuant to 
                sections 104, 303, 703, or 704.''; and
            (2) in paragraph (4)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through (C) 
                as clauses (i) through (iii), respectively;
                    (B) by striking ``If a court'' and inserting ``(A) 
                Novel or significant interpretations of law--If a 
                court'', and adjusting the margins accordingly; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(B) Initial applications.--If a court established 
                under subsection (a) appoints an amicus curiae under 
                paragraph (2)(C), the amicus curiae shall review the 
                submitted application for which the individual has been 
                appointed to assess the sufficiency of evidence 
                supporting the probable cause determination required to 
                issue an order pursuant to the application and provide 
                to the court a written recommendation regarding such 
                sufficiency.''.
    (b) Disclosure of Unverified Information.--Section 104(a) of such 
Act (50 U.S.C. 1804(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ``; and'' and inserting a 
        semicolon;
            (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(10) a statement fully disclosing the use of any 
        information in the application that the Government cannot 
        substantiate based on any supporting intelligence or open-
        source information available to the Government at the time of 
        the application, including, at a minimum--
                    ``(A) the origin of such information;
                    ``(B) the means by which the Government obtained 
                such information;
                    ``(C) a summary of each step the Government took to 
                verify the information prior to using the information 
                in the application;
                    ``(D) whether the Government has used such 
                information in any other judicial proceeding; and
                    ``(E) the necessity of using such information to 
                support the probable cause determination required by 
                section 105.''.
    (c) Transcripts of Proceedings.--Subsection (c) of section 103 of 
such Act (50 U.S.C. 1803) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``, and shall be transcribed'' before the 
        first period; and
            (2) by inserting ``, transcriptions,'' after ``applications 
        made''.
    (d) Written Record of Interactions With Court.--Such section is 
further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(l) Written Record of Interactions.--The Attorney General shall 
maintain all written communications with the court established under 
subsection (a), including the identity of the employees of the court to 
or from whom the communications were made, regarding an application or 
order made under this title in a file associated with the application 
or order. The Attorney General shall document a summary of any oral 
communications with the court, including the identity of the employees 
of the court to or from whom the communications were made, relating to 
such an application or order and keep such documentation in a file 
associated with the application or order.''.
    (e) Extensions.--Section 105(d)(2) of such Act (50 U.S.C. 
1805(d)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: 
``To the extent practicable, an extension of an order issued under this 
title shall be granted or denied by the same judge who issued the 
original order.''.
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