Justice Department lawyers who deal directly with the FISA court passed that misleading portrait onto the judges. Judge Collyer, who was appointed a federal district judge in Washington by President George W. Bush, has presided over the surveillance court since 2016. There were 1,833 targets of FISA orders, including 232 Americans, that year. When criminal wiretap orders end, their targets are usually notified that their privacy has been invaded. But the targets of FISA orders are usually not told that their phone calls and emails have been monitored, or that their homes or businesses have been searched.

Source: New York Times December 17, 2019 20:22 UTC