Sectional Analysis of the
Domestic Surveillance Oversight Act of 2003

Sec. 1.  Short title.  The short title of the bill is the “Domestic Surveillance Oversight Act of 2003.” 

Sec. 2.  Additional Improvements to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). 

This section amends FISA to clarify the authority of the Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and FISA Court of Review to establish such rules and procedures as are reasonably necessary for their operation. 

In addition, the bill requires the FISC and FISA Court of Review to transmit such rules and procedures to the judges on the FISC and Court of Review, the Chief Justice of the U.S., and the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees of the Senate and House.  Previously, these rules have not been provided to Congress as a matter of course.

This section also adds to the public reporting requirements in FISA.  It directs the Attorney General (AG) to include in the annual public report the aggregate number of U.S. persons targeted for any type of order under the act.

The report will also include information about the aggregate number of times FISA is being used for criminal cases, to enhance oversight regarding the changes enacted in the USA PATRIOT Act.  The report will list the number of times the AG authorized FISA information to be used in a criminal proceeding or for law enforcement purposes.

Finally, “in a manner consistent with the protection of national security,” this section directs the report to include the portions of applications to and opinions of the FISC and FISA Court of Review that involve significant construction or interpretation of FISA or the Constitution.  Such disclosures shall not include the facts of any particular case which are to be redacted.  The first annual report is to include application and opinion information for the four years preceding the year of the first report to ensure that important legal interpretations, such as FISA Court of Review opinion that was almost not made public last summer, are publicly disseminated.

Sec. 3.  Additional Improvements of Congressional Oversight of Surveillance Activities.  This section adds to a reporting requirement to the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees on the use of National Security Letters.  The report will include a statement of requests for information directed to public libraries or libraries affiliated with high schools and universities.   The section also would ensure that current reports on the use of such letters are provided to both the intelligence and judiciary committees as well as updating the names of certain pertinent committees that receive such reports.  The section would allow Congress to assess the validity of public reports that a long discredited program of domestic library surveillance is being revived.