Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
Citations

Long title	An Act to authorize electronic surveillance to obtain foreign intelligence information.
Acronyms (colloquial)	FISA
Enacted by	the 95th United States Congress
Effective	October 25, 1978
Public law	95-511
Statutes at Large	92 Stat. 1783
Codification
Titles amended	50 U.S.C.: War and National Defense
U.S.C. sections created	50 U.S.C. ch. 36 § 1801 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 1566 by Edward Kennedy (D–MA) on May 18, 1977 Committee consideration by Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on the Judiciary Passed the Senate on March 20, 1978 (95–1) Passed the House on September 7, 1978 (246–128, in lieu of H.R. 7308) Reported by the joint conference committee on October 5, 1978; agreed to by the Senate on October 9, 1978 (Without objection) and by the House on October 12, 1978 (226–176) Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 25, 1978
Major amendments
USA PATRIOT Act Protect America Act of 2007 FISA Amendments Act of 2008 USA Freedom Act

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" Pub.L. 95–511, 92 Stat. 1783, 50 U.S.C. ch. 36) is a United States federal law which prescribes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers" suspected of espionage or terrorism). The Act created the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It has been repeatedly amended since the September 11 attacks.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was introduced on May 18, 1977, by Senator Ted Kennedy and was signed into law by President Carter in 1978. The bill was cosponsored by nine Senators: Birch Bayh, James O. Eastland, Jake Garn, Walter Huddleston, Daniel Inouye, Charles Mathias, John L. McClellan, Gaylord Nelson, and Strom Thurmond.