National Commission calls for increased CIA, NSA, FBI powers

Abstract

On June 5, 2000, the National Commission on Terrorism, established by Congress in 1999, released its final report entitled ‘Countering The Changing Threat Of International Terrorism’. Among other recommendations, the Commission calls for increased powers for the FBI and NSA to conduct electronic eavesdropping. Specifically, the Commission wants streamlined procedures for FBI surveillance requests to be presented to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Currently, the Department of Justice Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) requires, in addition to probable cause, evidence of wrongdoing or specific knowledge of a political group’s terrorist intentions before forwarding a surveillance application to the FISC. Also, the commission wants past activities of a political group to be considered when determining whether the probable cause threshold is met.