FISA Court Slams Christopher Wray over FBI’s Surveillance Abuses

Dec. 17, 2019 (EIRNS)—Rosemary Collyer, the presiding judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), issued an unusual public order today rebuking the FBI and ordering Director Christopher Wray to state how he intends to correct the errors documented in Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report.

Judge Collyer said that “the frequency with which representations made by FBI personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and with which they withheld information detrimental to their case, calls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable.” She gave the FBI until Jan. 10 to explain in writing how it intends to remedy those problems, NBC News reported. The FBI must explain, her order stipulated, “what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure the statements of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI.”

Collyer charged that the FBI’s handling of the case of former Trump campaign associate Carter Page “was antithetical to the heightened duty of candor” which is required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that established the FISC. She emphasized that since the court relies entirely on the government’s submissions, it expects that the government is operating with a “heightened duty of candor.” According to CNN, in today’s order, the FISA court noted new information that should have cast doubt within the FBI about the accuracy of Christopher Steele’s dodgy dossier on Donald Trump and Russia, which was cited in the Page warrant. The FBI withheld information “which was detrimental to their case for believing that Mr. Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power,” Collyer wrote.

The FISC, she stressed, “expects the government to provide complete and accurate information in every filing with the court. Without it, the FISC cannot properly ensure that the government conducts electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes only when there is a sufficient factual basis.”

The FISC, CNN reported, said it plans to make another order related to the Page warrants public in the coming days.

Wray is now scrambling to respond to Judge Collyer’s order. In a statement issued today, the FBI said it is committed to working with the FISA court and the Justice Department to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the process. “FISA is an indispensable tool in national security investigations,” the statement said.

Shortly after Horowitz released his report, Wray said he had immediately ordered changes in how the FBI submits requests to the FISC. Last week, Horowitz reported he’d already opened a new review, looking at whether the FBI is complying with its duty to provide accurate information to the FISC in seeking to conduct surveillance of Americans in terrorism and spying investigations.