The federal government shutdown has slowed the release...
The federal government shutdown has slowed the release of surveillance practice documents. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in a Sept. 13 order had asked the government to identify relevant FISC documents for declassification, pursuant to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.…
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The government determined “eight of these documents contain analysis by the Court evaluating the meaning, scope, and/or constitutionality of Section 215” of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the government’s bulk collection of phone records, the government told the FISC Friday (http://1.usa.gov/GDXRV9). Six of those documents are at issue in the FOIA litigation, it added, pointing to opinions rendered in February 2004, August and December 2008, March and November 2009 and November 2010. There’s also a Feb. 19 document from this year on Section 215, but the government can’t determine when it can declassify it due to the shutdown, it said, saying it expects to declassify that document within 21 days of the shutdown’s end. It asked for a stay on the proceeding overall until funding is restored to the Department of Justice. The U.S. government also requested a stay of proceedings on the disclosure of documentation on its surveillance practices, said a Friday filing (http://1.usa.gov/1fVkrZg) before the FISC. The government brief cited the shutdown and a lapse in funding to the Department of Justice. The government was supposed to provide an Oct. 25 status report on the review of surveillance documents but asks that deadline be postponed until funding is restored. The government asked for the deadline to be extended by the length of the shutdown or longer, potentially.