Number: RL32608
Title: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Selected Legislation from the 108th Congress
Authors: Elizabeth Bazan, American Law Division 
Abstract: In the 108th Congress, a number of intelligence reform bills were introduced, including some which pre-dated the release of the Final Report of the 9/11 Commission, while others emerged after its release. On December 17, 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, P.L. 108-458 (S. 2845), was signed into law. It included several provisions related to FISA. In addition to P.L. 108-458, a variety of other bills were introduced with FISA-related provisions. The FISA provisions of some of these measures were part of larger intelligence reform proposals. Still others were more narrowly focused measures that would also have impacted FISA investigations in the post-9/11 environment. This report briefly discusses the FISA-related aspects of these proposals. For purposes of this report, the bills addressed are divided generally into two categories: intelligence reform or reorganization proposals that have FISA provisions, including P.L. 108-458 (S. 2845), H.R. 10, H.R. 4104, H.R. 5040, H.R. 5150, S. 6, S. 190, S. 1520, S. 2811, S. 2840, and Senator Pat Roberts draft bill; and other FISA-related bills, including H.R. 1157, H.R. 2242, H.R. 2429, H.R. 2800, H.R. 3179, H.R. 3352, H.R. 3552, H.R. 4591, H.Amdt. 652 to H.R. 4574, S. 113, S. 123, S. 410, S. 436, S. 578, S. 1158, S. 1507, S. 1552, S. 1709, S. 2528, and S.Amdt. 536 to S. 113. For a more detailed discussion of FISA, see CRS Report RL30465, The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: An Overview of the Statutory Framework and Recent Judicial Decisions, while a discussion of the amendment in P.L. 108-458 to the FISA definition of agent of a foreign power may be found in CRS Report RS22011, Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004: Lone Wolf Amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Pages: 16
Date: January 11, 2005