Electronic Surveillance in the U.S. for National Security Purposes: The History, Purpose, and Future of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Electronic surveillance is one of the most important foreign intelligence collection tools available to the U.S. government. Correspondingly, the ability to surveil constitutes one of those activities most susceptible to abuse by a government against its citizens. In the U.S., the government’s use of electronic surveillance is highly regulated and can be conducted for only two purposes: law enforcement, which is undertaken by both federal and state governments; and foreign intelligence collection, which is an exclusively federal government function conducted pursuant to a single authority - the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or “FISA.”

FISA governs not only electronic surveillance but the use of physical searches, pen registers, trap and trace devices, and business records collection to acquire foreign intelligence in the United States. It permits surveillance and other intrusive activities in the United States both with, and in limited circumstances, without a warrant. It covers virtually every major intelligence collection effort used by the United States, and constitutes the most important intelligence authority available in the war against terror.

 

This course covers the history of electronic surveillance conducted in the United States for national security purposes, and will tell you everything you didn’t know about FISA which is ever more frequently in the news. It may, or may not, change your mind set about FISA but it will almost certainly leave you better informed about the framework under which electronic surveillance is conducted for national security purposes.

 

Presenter Bios 

 

George W. Croner, a Senior Fellow at FPRI, is a 1975 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (with distinction) and a 1980 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School (with honors).

 

From 1984 through 1988, while holding the highest security clearance authorized by the U.S. government (TS/SCI), Mr. Croner served in the Operations Division of the Office of General Counsel at the National Security Agency (NSA) which had legal oversight responsibility for NSA’s signals intelligence (SIGINT) operations, including compliance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). During this same period, Mr. Croner also was NSA’s principal litigation counsel and, in that capacity, represented NSA’s interests in a variety of litigation matters implicating the security interests of NSA’s SIGINT operations including: Westmoreland v. CBS (the defamation lawsuit brought by General William Westmoreland that raised issues concerning the intelligence information used to assess North Vietnamese troop strength during the Vietnam War); U.S. v. John Walker (espionage prosecution); U.S. v. Jerry Whitworth (espionage prosecution); U.S. v. Wu-tai Chin (espionage prosecution); and U.S. v. Ronald Pelton (espionage prosecution). The Pelton case, in particular, involved some of NSA’s then-most sensitive SIGINT collection programs. Mr. Croner was awarded a Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM) for his work in connection with these espi-onage prosecutions.

 

In addition to these litigation matters, Mr. Croner also served as the NSA representative to the White House interagency group assembled to review and, where possible, declassify intelligence information associated with the Iran-Contra investigation. In this capacity he assisted the Tower Commission, congressional intelligence committees, and the Independent Counsel regarding security matters related to the use and understanding of NSA intelligence product.

 

For his efforts with the interagency group, Mr. Croner received a letter of appreciation from President Ronald Reagan, and was awarded a second DMSM.

 

Following his service with NSA, Mr. Croner spent 28 years in the private practice of law but, after leaving NSA, he maintained his interest in NSA and inelectronic surveillance as it relates to the collection of foreign intelligence information.