Summary of the Substantive Provisions of S. 2010, the FISA Amendments
Reauthorization Act of 2017, and H.R. 3989, the USA Liberty Act of 2017
Edward C. Liu, Legislative Attorney, eliu@crs.loc.gov, 7-9166
This memorandum was prepared to enable distribution to more than one congressional office.
This memorandum summarizes the substantive provisions of:
S. 2010, the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017, as reported by the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence on October 25, 2017, and
H.R. 3989, the USA Liberty Act of 2017, as ordered to be reported by the House
Judiciary Committee on November 8, 2017.
Both bills primarily amend and reauthorize Title VII
of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
(FISA).
FISA generally provides a statutory framework by which government agencies may, when
gathering foreign intelligence information, obtain authorization to conduct electronic surveillance
or
physical searches,
utilize pen registers and trap and trace devices,
or compel the production of specified
business records and other tangible things.
Authorization for such activities is typically obtained via a
court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a specialized court created by FISA
to act as a neutral judicial decision maker in the context of activities authorized by the statute.
FISA also
created a specialized appellate court known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review
(FISCR) to review decisions of the FISC.
The version of H.R. 3989 ordered to be reported by the House Judiciary Committee includes an amendment in the nature of a
substitute offered by Chairman Goodlatte, as modified by additional amendments from Reps. Conyers, Jackson Lee, and
Cicilline. See House Judiciary Committee, Markup of H.R. 3989 and H.R. 170 (Nov. 8, 2017),
https://judiciary.house.gov/markup/markup-h-r-3989-h-r-170/.
50 U.S.C. §§ 1881-1881g.
Id. §§ 1801-1885c.
Id. §§ 1801-1813.
Id. §§ 1821-1826.
Id. §§ 1841-1846. Pen registers capture the numbers dialed on a telephone line; trap and trace devices identify the originating
number of a call on a particular telephone line. See 18 U.S.C. § 3127(3)-(4).
50 U.S.C. §§ 1861-1864.
Id. § 1803.
Id.
