THE EAR OF DIONYSUS: RETHINKING FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE

Abstract

As the 110th Congress begins to flex its atrophied oversight muscle, it bears remembering that, in the ongoing debate over who should have the authority to authorize and oversee foreign intelligence surveillance programs, someone must, and the existing mechanisms, in particular, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA') and its related procedures, are no longer adequate and must be updated. The FISA simply did not anticipate the nature of the current threat to national security from transnational terrorism, nor did it anticipate the development of global communication networks or advanced technical methods for intelligence gathering.