Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin have called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to revise its procedures regarding congressional attendance at Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) proceedings. This request comes as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is set to expire in April next year.
The procedures in question were first put in place by the Biden administration in November 2024 and have continued under the current administration. According to Grassley and Durbin, these rules hinder congressional oversight and do not align with Section 5(d) of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), which was signed into law in April 2024.
In a joint statement, Grassley and Durbin said: “The FISC Procedures, as drafted, comport with neither the plain language nor the spirit of RISAA, and raise numerous separation of powers concerns. As the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate’s primary committee of jurisdiction over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, we are troubled by the Department’s lack of transparency and failure to engage meaningfully with our committee as these procedures were developed. We request that the Department amend the FISC Procedures to comply with the Constitution and RISAA.”
RISAA requires that DOJ allow certain members of Congress and designated staff to attend FISC proceedings for oversight purposes. However, policies implemented by DOJ require congressional members and their staff to agree to several conditions before being allowed access. These include restrictions such as prohibiting sharing information with other members or staff, limiting requests for information from FISC participants, allowing DOJ staff to remove observers at their discretion, restricting attendance numbers, preventing designated staff from attending alongside their member of Congress, and banning note taking during proceedings even though classified notebooks can be maintained.
Section 5(d) of RISAA specifically states that specified members of Congress and designated staff must be permitted to attend any proceeding at either FISC or FISCR. This provision was included during the 2024 reauthorization process for Section 702 of FISA to ensure effective congressional oversight over intelligence court activities.
