Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008

Long title	An Act to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes.
Nicknames	FISA Amendments Act of 2008
Enacted by	the 110th United States Congress
Effective	July 10, 2008
Citations
Public law	110-261
Statutes at Large	122 Stat. 2436
Codification
Acts amended	Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act USA PATRIOT Act Protect America Act of 2007
Titles amended	50 U.S.C.: War and National Defense
U.S.C. sections amended	50 U.S.C. ch. 36 § 1801 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 6304 by Silvestre Reyes (D–TX) on June 19, 2008 Committee consideration by House Judiciary, House Intelligence (Permanent Select) Passed the House on June 20, 2008 (293–129 Roll call vote 437, via Clerk.House.gov) Passed the Senate on July 9, 2008 (69–28 Roll call vote 168, via Senate.gov) Signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 10, 2008
Major amendments
USA Freedom Act

The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (also called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, H.R. 6304, enacted 2008-07-10) is an Act of Congress that amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It has been used as the legal basis for mass surveillance programs disclosed by Edward Snowden in 2013, including PRISM.

Warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency (NSA) was revealed publicly in late 2005 by the New York Times and then reportedly discontinued in January 2007. See Letter from Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales to Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter, CONG. REC. S646-S647 (Jan. 17, 2007). Approximately forty lawsuits have been filed against telecommunications companies by groups and individuals alleging that the Bush administration illegally monitored their phone calls or e-mails. Whistleblower evidence suggests that AT&T was complicit in the NSA's warrantless surveillance, which could have involved the private communications of millions of Americans.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act makes it illegal to intentionally engage in electronic surveillance under appearance of an official act or to disclose or use information obtained by electronic surveillance under appearance of an official act knowing that it was not authorized by statute; this is punishable with a fine of up to $10,000 or up to five years in prison, or both. In addition, the Wiretap Act prohibits any person from illegally intercepting, disclosing, using, or divulging phone calls or electronic communications; this is punishable with a fine or up to five years in prison, or both.

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