Sponsors
The bill increases independent legal scrutiny and transparency of FISA surveillance to better protect Americans' civil liberties, but it introduces procedural burdens that could slow intelligence operations and raise government litigation costs.
U.S. persons targeted by FISA applications gain mandatory DOJ Office review and compulsory challenge when probable-cause is not clearly met, providing an independent check that strengthens Fourth Amendment protections.
Taxpayers and the public benefit from court-appointed amici who review FISA applications and from standardized appointment procedures, increasing independent legal scrutiny and consistency in secret surveillance orders.
Congress and taxpayers receive greater transparency through a required report within 365 days on DOJ oversight activity (how many applications were challenged and why), improving legislative oversight of surveillance practices.
Law-enforcement and federal investigators may face delays and added procedural burden because mandatory DOJ review and court-appointed amici could slow urgent intelligence collection and time-sensitive proceedings.
Taxpayers may bear higher costs as increased DOJ participation in FISA litigation requires more resources and raises litigation expenses.
Removing paragraph (7) could eliminate prior statutory flexibility or procedures for amici use, creating legal and implementation uncertainty for courts and agencies.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a DOJ FISA Oversight Office that can challenge Title I applications and requires the FISC to appoint an amicus for every Title I application.
Introduced April 2, 2026 by Ted Lieu · Last progress April 2, 2026
Creates a FISA Oversight Office inside the Department of Justice to review every Title I foreign-intelligence surveillance application and, when it believes the probable-cause standard may not be met, to ask to join the FISA case and challenge the application. Requires the federal office filing an application to share all available evidence about investigations of United States persons and to notify the new Office each time an application is filed. Also requires the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to appoint a designated amicus curiae to assist the court in considering every Title I application (subject to existing timing limits). The bill also requires the Attorney General and the Director to report to congressional committees within one year about how many applications the Office challenged or declined to challenge and the reasons. These changes increase adversarial review and internal oversight of FISA Title I surveillance requests and create new reporting and information-sharing duties for federal intelligence and law enforcement offices.