Thread by @TheLastRefuge2

1) Thread to support @mtaibbi -vs- @SethAbramson in this FISA aspect. [W/ receipts 😀]

It's a serious conversation more need to understand.

cc: @elonmusk et al

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1614817674499874816

2) FISA applications, the requests for the most comprehensive Title-1 invasive search warrants, come from the DOJ National Security Division (DOJ-NSD).

The DOJ-NSD was created by AG Eric Holder partly to organize this surveillance authority process.

3) From the outset of its creation, the DOJ-NSD rejected any inspector general oversight. The DOJ Inspector General was not allowed to review the activity within the DOJ-NSD. It was a secret process with ZERO oversight.

4) The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) battled the DOJ-NSD over this 'star chamber' issue for years.

You can read the final outcome of the battle in the OLC opinion of Sally Yates. [pdf format]

ignet.gov/sites/default/…

5) DOJ-NSD outcome was essentially, NO ONE can conduct oversight of our work because it involves national security matters. So go away.

Neither congress, judicial nor internal OIG oversight was permitted. Zero oversight. This is key.

ignet.gov/sites/default/…

6) However, one of the values of the fraudulent FISA application created to target Carter Page, and by extension Donald Trump, was scrutiny on the process; mostly driven by several years of FISA Court (FISC) discomfort.

7) When the Trump administration took over, they permitted the DOJ Office of the Inspector General to finally conduct oversight of this DOJ division which had been operating in complete darkness.

8) After the DOJ (OIG), Michael Horowitz, presented his Dec 2019 findings of the Page FISA application, the gross deficiencies & intentional fraud were so extensive the IG said he was going to review a sample of FISA applications to identify if the fraud and abuse was widespread.

9) What follows is the reality that deconstructs this:

10) The initial OIG review of the FISA process within the DOJ-NSD was so troubling, Horowitz had to pause the investigation to alert the AG, Congress and the Executive branch as to the findings. [link]

oig.justice.gov/reports/2020/a…

11) The OIG began reviewing FISA applications from eight field offices (the proverbial “rank and file”). The OIG selected 29 FISA applications from those field offices over the period of October 2014 to September 2019.

12) Additionally, every field office and the DOJ-NSD generate internal “Accuracy Reviews”, or self-checks on FISA applications; so the OIG inspected 42 of the accuracy review FISA files to determine if they were compliant.

13) Within the 17-page-memo the IG notifies Attorney General Bill Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray that all of the claimed FISA processes, in every field office, are grossly deficient, and in most cases there is zero compliance with FISA standards.

oig.justice.gov/reports/2020/a…

14) KEEP IN MIND.... All of the FISA applications the OIG reviewed were *approved* by the FISA court.

15) The ‘Woods File’ is the mandatory FBI evidence file containing the documentary proof to verify all statements against U.S. persons in the application.

Remember, this is a secret court, applications result in secret surveillance and wiretaps outside the fourth amendment.

16) Within the 29 FISA applications reviewed, four were completely missing the Woods File. Meaning there was zero supportive evidence for any of the FBI claims against U.S. persons underpinning the FISA application. [ie. The FBI just made stuff up]

oig.justice.gov/reports/2020/a…

17) Of the remaining 25 FISA applications, 100% of them, all of them, were materially deficient on the woods file requirement; and the average number of deficiencies per file was 20.

18) Meaning an average of twenty direct statements against the target, supporting the purpose of the FISA application, sworn by the FBI affiant, were unsubstantiated. [The low was 5, the high was 63, the average per file was 20]

19) Half of the FISA applications reviewed used Confidential Human Sources (CHS’s). The OIG memo outlines that “many” of applications containing CHS claims had no supportive documentation attesting to the dependability of the CHS.

20) Two of the 25 FISA applications reviewed had renewals; meaning the FISA applications were renewed to extended surveillance, wiretaps, etc. beyond the initial 90-days. None of the renewals had any re-verification. Both FISAs that used renewals were not compliant.

21) But wait… it gets worse.

The DOJ and FBI have an internal self-check mechanism.

22) The DOJ-NSD chief counsel, and the chief counsel for every FBI field office are required to conduct an “Accuracy Review” of selected FISA applications. One per field office (25 to 30 field offices),which are also sent to DOJ-NSD (main justice) for general counsel inspection

23) Keep in mind, these “accuracy reviews” are known in advance, so the FBI has all the time in the world to select the best FISA file(s) for review.

24) When the OIG inspected 42 of these Accuracy Reviews, the IG identified that only three of them had accurately assembled documents (Woods File) supporting the application. The error rate within the files self-checked was over 93%.

25) So the best FBI files are selected to undergo the FBI and DOJ-NSD accuracy review. The accuracy review takes place by FBI legal counsel and DOJ-NSD legal counsel. However, the IG finds that only three FBI applications in the accuracy reviews were compliant.

26) The error rate in the files undertaken by the internal accuracy review was over 93% (3 compliant out of 42 reviewed).

These were the FISA files with the greatest possibility of being accurate. Let that sink in…

scribd.com/document/45420…

27) A year and a half later, the full OIG report on the FISA review was completed.

oig.justice.gov/reports/audit-…

28) oig.justice.gov/reports/audit-…

29) President Obama and Eric Holder created a subsidiary division within the DOJ to use the FISA court to gain Title-1 surveillance warrants against U.S. citizens.

This DOJ-NSD division operated in total secrecy with no oversight during the entire term of Obama (Holder/Lynch)

30) Knowing what you know now..... What similarities do you think would be found around some of the domestic targets of these secret surveillance applications?

31) U.S. person Carter Page wasn't the first, and he most certainly wasn't the only one.

Illegal NSA database searches by FBI.
Title-1 surveillance warrants by FBI.
Perkins Coie co-located FBI facilities.
FBI in Twitter.

Think bigger.

@mtaibbi @SethAbramson @elonmusk

/END