Page 9 - AssessmentReport

announce some prioritization plan or approach. We recommend beginning with opinions
describing the legal theories relied upon for widespread collection of metadata from
Americans not suspected of terrorist affiliations, to be followed by opinions involving
serious compliance issues.

Discussion of Status:

The Intelligence Community has continued to declassify and release previously issued FISC
decisions and related materials over the past year. These have been posted both on the
FISA court’s website and on the Intelligence Community’s website, IC on the Record.

The Intelligence Community has advised us that it remains committed to implementing this
recommendation, and that it will continue to conduct declassification reviews of both older
and more recent opinions.

Recommendation 8: Publicly Report on the Operation of the FISC Special
Advocate Program

Status:

Implemented (USA FREEDOM Act)
Text of the Board’s Recommendation:

The Attorney General should regularly and publicly report information regarding the
operation of the Special Advocate program recommended by the Board. This should
include statistics on the frequency and nature of Special Advocate participation in FISC and
FISCR proceedings.

Explanation for the Recommendation:

Should the government adopt our recommendation for a Special Advocate in the FISC, the
nature of that advocate’s role must be transparent to be effective. The FISC should publicly
disclose any rules the court adopts governing the advocate’s participation in proceedings.
In addition, the Attorney General should regularly and publicly report statistics on the
frequency of Special Advocate participation, including the number of times Special
Advocates have sought review of FISC decisions in the FISCR and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Discussion of Status:

Section 603 of the USA FREEDOM Act requires the Administrative Office of the United
States Courts annually to report to the intelligence and judiciary committees of Congress on
the number of times that an amicus curiae is appointed, the identity of the appointee, the
number of times that a FISC judge determines that participation of an amicus curiae is not
appropriate, and the text of the written findings supporting such determinations. The Act

9