
Levison: FBI secret warrant to surveil Carter Page should scare, spur reform - Clanan
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/fbi-s-secret-warrant-surveil-carter-page-should-scare-all-ncna852131
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Clanan
FYI: Ladar Levison founded Lavabit. Key quotes:

> Out of more than 39,000 applications presented to the FISC through the end
> of 2016, only 51 have been rejected, with the majority, 34, of those
> rejections coming in 2016.

> While most FISC warrants remain classified, the few which have emerged
> through leaks, or been forced into the public domain by First Amendment
> lawsuits, paint a rather bleak picture. These warrants tell us the FISC has
> issued “mass” warrants which permit government surveillance based on
> statistical “selectors.”

> the FISC routinely includes authorization in their warrants for the
> government to surveil people in contact with their target, and people in
> contact with the contact; in a scheme referred to as “chaining,” these
> authorizations will include 2 or 3 “hops.”

I recall hearing James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence under
Obama, say that FISC was no rubber stamp and was an important safeguard. Their
0.13% rejection rate suggests otherwise.

