«The American people must have confidence.»
Attorney General William Barr is announcing a series of new reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant application process. The new reforms come 10 months after Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Russia probe. Horowitz’s report found several errors in the agency’s FISA applications to surveil members of President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. “The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation press forward with Foreign Intelligence Surveillance reforms,” Barr said in a statement on Tuesday. Barr issued two memos regarding the FISA reforms that implement new restrictions on applying for a surveillance warrant for an elected official or a candidate or “advisors of such candidate’s campaign.” The new reforms require that the director of the FBI “considers” whether or not to brief the “target.” However, if the director decides that “such a briefing is not appropriate,” they must provide written documentation about the decision.
