Thread by @themarketswork

Thread:
1) The Uncovering - NSA Dir Mike Rogers' Investigation, Section 702 FISA Abuse & the FBI.
themarketswork.com/2018/04/05/the…

2) John Carlin was an Assistant Attorney General – and Head of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division (NSD).

Carlin announced his resignation exactly one day after he filed the Government’s proposed 2016 Section 702 certifications.

3) Section 702 is part of the FISA Act and permits the government to target for surveillance foreign persons located outside the United States

Section 702 requires the AG and DNI to provide the FISA Court with annual certifications regarding compliance with Section 702.

4) The DOJ’s National Security Division (NSD) maintains oversight of Intelligence Agencies - including the FBI's - use of Section 702 authority.

The NSD – with notice to the ODNI – is required to report any incidents of Agency noncompliance or misconduct to the FISA Court.

5) For a more complete discussion on FISA see, FISA Surveillance – Title I & III and Section 702.
themarketswork.com/2018/04/01/fis…

6) At the time Carlin’s sudden resignation went mostly unnoticed.

An explanation was provided in a 99-page April 26, 2017 unsealed FISA Court Ruling.
dni.gov/files/document…

7) Page 4: "On October 24, 2016, the government orally apprised the Court of significant non-compliance with the NSA’s minimization procedures under Section 702."

"The full scope of non-compliant querying practices had not been previously disclosed to the Court."

8) NSD Carlin intentionally withheld disclosure of known compliance violations in his report to the FISA Court.

Page 19: "The Court ascribed the government’s failure to disclose those IG and OCO reviews at the October 4, 2016 hearing to an institutional lack of candor.”

9) It wasn’t the Obama Administration that apprised the FISA Court of compliance violations on October 24, 2016..

It was National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers.

Here's what happened.
themarketswork.com/2018/04/05/the…

10) On 1-7-16, the NSA Inspector General released a report on FISA compliance which noted significant compliance and control issues within the NSA regarding the use of Section 702 data.

The NSD did not disclose this report to the FISA Court.
dni.gov/files/document…

11) Rogers implemented a tightening of rules at the NSA.

This did not halt the Compliance Problems.

Outside Agencies – specifically the DOJ’s National Security Division and the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division – were still routinely violating Section 702 procedures.

12) In March 2016, NSA Director Rogers became aware of improper access to raw FISA data.

Page 83: "Private contractors had access to raw FISA information on FBI storage systems."

13) In April of 2016, Rogers directed the NSA’s Office of Compliance to conduct a “fundamental baseline review of compliance associated with 702”.

(Senate testimony & Page 83-84 of Court Ruling).

14) On April 18, 2016, Rogers shut down all outside contractor access to raw FISA information – specifically outside contractors working for the FBI. (Page 84 of Court Ruling).

15) On April 18, 2016, both the FBI and DOJ’s NSD become aware of Rogers’ compliance review. They may have known earlier but they were certainly aware after outside contractor access was halted. NSA Rogers' review remained on going.

16) On 9-26-16, NSD Head Carlin filed the Government’s proposed 2016 Section 702 certifications. Carlin knew the status of Rogers’ compliance review. The NSD was part of the review.

Carlin did not disclose the IG Report or the NSA compliance review to the FISA Court.

17) On September 27, 2016, Carlin announced his resignation - effective on October 15, 2016.

On October 4, 2016, a standard follow-up hearing on the 2016 Section 702 Certification was held. Carlin was present at the hearing - his last.

18) Carlin - and Office of DNI - again failed to make any disclosure to FISA Court.

The FISA Court later noted:

Page 19: The Court ascribed the government’s failure to disclose those IG and OCO reviews at the October 4, 2016 hearing to an institutional “lack of candor”.

19) Meanwhile, Rogers' Internal Compliance Review was nearing completion.

In mid-October 2016 – DNI James Clapper suddenly submitted a recommendation to the White House that Director Rogers be removed from the NSA.
washingtonpost.com/world/national…

20) On 10-20-16, Rogers was briefed by Compliance Officer on findings from the Audit.

The audit had uncovered numerous “About” Query violations.

On 10-21-16, Rogers shut down all “About Query” activity. He reported his findings to the DOJ (Senate testimony & Court Ruling).

21) On October 21 2016, the DOJ & FBI sought and received a Title I FISA warrant authorizing electronic surveillance on Carter Page from the FISA Court.

At this point, the FISA Court is unaware of the Section 702 violations uncovered by Rogers.

22) On 10-24-16, Rogers verbally informed FISA Court of his findings (Page 4 of Court Ruling).

Rogers verbally informs FISA Court because Court is scheduled to finalize the government's certifications in 2 days.

Only now does the FISA Court become aware of FISA violations.

23) On 10-26-16, Rogers appeared formally before FISA Court and presented the findings of his audit (Page 4, 14 & 19).

The violations are significant and involve upstream collection of Section 702 data.

Page 19: “The problem was widespread during all periods under review.”

24) The government could not identify all access points to FISA data.

Page 22: "The government was still attempting to identify all systems that store upstream data and all tools used to query such data."

25) U.S. Person query violations were material.

Page 82: “NSA estimates that approximately eighty-five percent of those queries…were not compliant.”

"No apparent reason to believe the November 2015-April 2016 period coincided with an unusually high error rate."

26) FBI was using private contractors to access FISA Data.

Page 83: "FBI disclosed raw FISA information, including Section 702-acquired information to [Redacted] is largely staffed by private contractors."

"Contractors had access to raw FISA information on FBI storage systems."

27) Page 84: "Contractors had access to raw FISA information that went well beyond what was necessary."

"Access continued even after they had completed work in response to an FBI request."

28) Page 85: "The government was unable to determine how many times non-FBI personnel had full access to raw FISA data."

Page 86: "These contractors were “not directly supervised by or otherwise under the direction and control of [Redacted]."

29) Page 87: "The improper access granted to the contractors was apparently in place and seems to have been the result of deliberate decisionmaking."

Page 87: "Raw FISA information may be retained on those systems in violation of applicable minimization requirements."

30) Page 87: "The Court is concerned about the FBI’s apparent disregard of minimization rules and whether the FBI may be engaging in similar disclosures of raw Section 702 information that have not been reported."

31) The FISA Court would review all procedures and systems used for FISA Access.

Extensive modifications were made.

Final FISA Court approval - that would have been granted on Oct 26, 2016 - was not granted until April 26, 2017.

32) None of this information would have come to light without Mike Rogers.

The FISA Court had no knowledge of these issues and would have certified the Government's 2016 Proposal on October 26, 2016.

DOJ's NSD knew of these FISA violations. So did DNI Clapper.

33) However, no system was in place to track what happened to the improperly accessed FISA data - or how it was used.

Page 82: "NSA is unable to identify any reporting or other disseminations that may have been based on information returned by these non-compliant queries.”

34) Postscript: On 11-17-16, Rogers traveled to meet President-Elect Trump in Trump Tower.

Rogers did not inform his boss – DNI James Clapper.
washingtonpost.com/world/national…

35) That evening the Trump Transition Team announced they were moving all transition activity to Trump Nat'l Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ.

End.
washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/…