Legislative Background
Recent Action on FISA Reform
In July 2007, President George W. Bush called on Congress to pass legislation to update and reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which sets forth physical and electronic surveillance procedures for gathering foreign intelligence information. The Administration claimed that the law was limiting the government’s ability to conduct surveillance on foreign threats without a warrant. In August, Republicans and Democrats agreed to the Protect America Act, a six-month law that allowed for wiretapping without a warrant when the target of surveillance is a foreign intelligence target located outside the United States. Democrats vowed to come back after the summer…
