FISA Improvements Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5396 To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to require reviews by amici curiae of applications made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveil- lance Court, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 11, 2019 Mr. STEWART (for himself, Mr. NUNES, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. TURNER, Mr. WENSTRUP, Mr. CRAWFORD, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. BISHOP of North Caro- lina, Mr. GAETZ, and Mr. HURD of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con- cerned A BILL To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to require reviews by amici curiae of applications made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FISA Improvements 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Dec 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5396.IH H5396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5396 IH SEC. 2. ENHANCED FIDELITY OF FISA APPLICATIONS AND 1 PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE FOREIGN 2 INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT. 3 (a) MANDATORY REVIEW BY AMICUS CURIAE.—Sec- 4 tion 103(i) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 5 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803(i)(2)) is amended— 6 (1) in paragraph (2)— 7 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; 8 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 9 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 10 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 11 (C) by adding at the end the following new 12 subparagraph: 13 ‘‘(C) shall appoint an individual who has 14 been designated under paragraph (1) to serve 15 as amicus curiae to assist such court in the 16 consideration of any initial application for an 17 order that seeks to target an identifiable United 18 States person pursuant to sections 104, 303, 19 703, or 704.’’; and 20 (2) in paragraph (4)— 21 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 22 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec- 23 tively; 24 (B) by striking ‘‘If a court’’ and inserting 25 ‘‘(A) NOVEL OR SIGNIFICANT INTERPRETA- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Dec 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5396.IH H5396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5396 IH TIONS OF LAW—If a court’’, and adjusting the 1 margins accordingly; and 2 (C) by adding at the end the following new 3 subparagraph: 4 ‘‘(B) INITIAL APPLICATIONS.—If a court 5 established under subsection (a) appoints an 6 amicus curiae under paragraph (2)(C), the ami- 7 cus curiae shall review the submitted applica- 8 tion for which the individual has been appointed 9 to assess the sufficiency of evidence supporting 10 the probable cause determination required to 11 issue an order pursuant to the application and 12 provide to the court a written recommendation 13 regarding such sufficiency.’’. 14 (b) DISCLOSURE OF UNVERIFIED INFORMATION.— 15 Section 104(a) of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1804(a)) is amend- 16 ed— 17 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 18 inserting a semicolon; 19 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at 20 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 21 (3) by adding at the end the following new 22 paragraph: 23 ‘‘(10) a statement fully disclosing the use of 24 any information in the application that the Govern- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Dec 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5396.IH H5396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5396 IH ment cannot substantiate based on any supporting 1 intelligence or open-source information available to 2 the Government at the time of the application, in- 3 cluding, at a minimum— 4 ‘‘(A) the origin of such information; 5 ‘‘(B) the means by which the Government 6 obtained such information; 7 ‘‘(C) a summary of each step the Govern- 8 ment took to verify the information prior to 9 using the information in the application; 10 ‘‘(D) whether the Government has used 11 such information in any other judicial pro- 12 ceeding; and 13 ‘‘(E) the necessity of using such informa- 14 tion to support the probable cause determina- 15 tion required by section 105.’’. 16 (c) TRANSCRIPTS OF PROCEEDINGS.—Subsection (c) 17 of section 103 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1803) is amended— 18 (1) by inserting ‘‘, and shall be transcribed’’ be- 19 fore the first period; and 20 (2) by inserting ‘‘, transcriptions,’’ after ‘‘appli- 21 cations made’’. 22 (d) WRITTEN RECORD OF INTERACTIONS WITH 23 COURT.—Such section is further amended by adding at 24 the end the following new subsection: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:43 Dec 17, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5396.IH H5396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5396 IH ‘‘(l) WRITTEN RECORD OF INTERACTIONS.—The At- 1 torney General shall maintain all written communications 2 with the court established under subsection (a), including 3 the identity of the employees of the court to or from whom 4 the communications were made, regarding an application 5 or order made under this title in a file associated with 6 the application or order. The Attorney General shall docu- 7 ment a summary of any oral communications with the 8 court, including the identity of the employees of the court 9 to or from whom the communications were made, relating 10 to such an application or order and keep such documenta- 11 tion in a file associated with the application or order.’’. 12 (e) EXTENSIONS.—Section 105(d)(2) of such Act (50 13 U.S.C. 1805(d)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the 14 following new sentence: ‘‘To the extent practicable, an ex- 15 tension of an order issued under this title shall be granted 16 or denied by the same judge who issued the original 17 order.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Dec 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5396.IH H5396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS