Thread from a former Federal Prosecutor: No one is mentioning what a big undertaking a wiretap is. The wire(s?) that were up on Carter Page would have been a HUGE lift in terms of manpower and resources. This is not something you undertake lightly.
If you read the Carter Page FISA wiretap applications and orders you will see sections in each relation to "minimization" procedures. Minimization is the process by which agents are to listen to the first few seconds of a call to determine either the ID of the other caller
and/ or the subject matter of the call. So, if the agents determine that Page is on the phone with his mother and the subject is birthday greetings, they must turn off the wiretap to shield the privacy of both Page and his Mom. This must be written down in a
contemporaneous log book.
Consequently, the wire, like the reception desk in the Devil Wears Prada, can never be unmanned. This means you have to schedule agents around the clock, 7 days a week. Not just one guy per shift either. Also, judges usually require at least monthly
Consequently, the wire, like the reception desk in the Devil Wears Prada, can never be unmanned. This means you have to schedule agents around the clock, 7 days a week. Not just one guy per shift either. Also, judges usually require at least monthly
reports (sometimes 10 day or weekly reports) where the AUSA summarizes what the traffic is over a particualr phone with a wire. How many calls, of those how many were related tothe investigation and fully recorded, how many were minimized and how many seconds into the call
the decision was made to stop recording that call and why. Sometimes, if the call is to another subject of the investigation but hte subject matter of the call seems to require minimization, you toggle back in on the call later to see if they first used innocuous convo to try
trigger minimization. La Cosa Nostra guys have been known to do that. All that has to be described in the monthly report. Most important is that you have to show that a particular wire is generating enough % of info useful to the investigation to justify
the privacy invasion. Even if you get a 90 day wiretap order, the judge can close you out early if nothing useful is coming out.
This is why agents will sometimes resort to creating some event that they believe will motivate the Target to make a call.
This is why agents will sometimes resort to creating some event that they believe will motivate the Target to make a call.
This is know as "tickling the wires".
Sometimes, you have the right target, but the wrong device and the target has another phone or a burner phone that you don't know the # for.
My point being, if that [those?] tap[s?] were not producing actionable information
Sometimes, you have the right target, but the wrong device and the target has another phone or a burner phone that you don't know the # for.
My point being, if that [those?] tap[s?] were not producing actionable information
the judges would never have allowed for re-authorization and might have shut the operation down mid 90 day period.
My other point is this YEAR LONG wiretap surveillance effort was a huge commitment of manpower and the FBI would have shut it down itself unless it was providing
My other point is this YEAR LONG wiretap surveillance effort was a huge commitment of manpower and the FBI would have shut it down itself unless it was providing
actionable information. FBI has no incentive to waste its agent's time. Do not forget Page was known to the FBI has a Russian recruit as early as 2013. Long before Trump campaign.
