Thread by @DawsonSField

OIG report on FBI compliance with fact reviews in Woods Procedures for FISA applications.
#ButNothingsHappening

https://twitter.com/JusticeOIG/status/1443579165932806168

It is important to note that there is a wide range of non-compliance. I did threads on it at the time, only 4 of the 209 errors found were deemed material. IIRC all in the @CarterWPage FISA. Others were simple errors or lazy habit.

I recall many of those non-compliant Woods references were for doing things such as putting the name & reference to the confirming fact like a footnote in a paper. But not printing the original document and adding it to the Woods File.

This gives a better summary of the errors & ommisions in the 29 FISA's reviewed by OIG.

None of the 209 'errors' was deemed to be material in determining probable cause with a FISA warrant.
Unlike the 'errors' in the Carter Page FISA.

There were another 209 'errors' where OIG felt the officers should have provided more supporting evidence in the Woods File.
I recall in the Page FISA, agents quoted the Buryakov guilty plea. They listed it as a reference for the fact in the Woods File but did not add the doc.

Leading to issues like the Affiant in the Carter Page FISA not getting to read a copy of Chris Steele's CHS file & not knowing he was far less reliable than the agent & thus the court were told.

Then FBI Counsel Dana Boente ordered all FBI field offices to account for their Woods Files in March 2020. Recreate any that were missing & fix any inadequate sourcing for all factual ommissions from the files.

In addition to the 4 missing out of 29, FBI found another 179 that were at least partially missing out of 7000 FISA apps.
But FBI's reporting was less than clear & OIG can't tell how many were completely missing & how many just had some missing information...

Some of this was reportedly caused by agents using 1 Woods File for the original app & the renewals. With agents removing source documents from the file for statements that were removed from the renewal applications.

As FBI had no retention policy for Woods Files, they would often be misplaced when the officer involved transfered to another office or destroyed when the case was closed.

Many of these problems have been fixed or at least improved since the 2019 FISA accuracy report by OIG.
Instead of having some HQ person who never saw the Woods File sign off on it, now the Field Office must sign off on it.

AG Barr authorized the creation of an audit division o review FISA & FISC compliance.
But OIG feels that culture at DOJ's National Security Division & FBI was way too loose to be fixed easily. That many may continue the lazy noncompliant approach in spite of new policies...

Several pages outlining simple reality. "That which is measured improves" but Woods compliance had never been measured.
Instead a an impossible standard was put on paper (time management & pencil pushing) but with not auditing always made it a low priority with low compliance.