--- title: Watching the Watchers description: Is the secretive FISA court too close to the FBI and NSA? canonical: https://time.com/archive/6643763/watching-the-watchers/ author: Massimo Calabresi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-07-08T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-26T16:35:01.761Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watching the Watchers og:description: Is the secretive FISA court too close to the FBI and NSA? og:url: https://time.com/archive/6643763/watching-the-watchers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt006be873ad4a966e/698a4557b3fce3c7bd0cb5ac/360_brnation_0708.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 360 og:image:height: 203 og:image:alt: 360_brnation_0708.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watching the Watchers twitter:description: Is the secretive FISA court too close to the FBI and NSA? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt006be873ad4a966e/698a4557b3fce3c7bd0cb5ac/360_brnation_0708.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) # Watching the Watchers > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=11deb7f2-cfd7-4950-927f-971b0cc4b45b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/) Jul 8, 2013 4:00 AM UTC  Illustration by Oliver Munday for TIME by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/) Jul 8, 2013 4:00 AM UTC On the afternoon of Saturday, April 6, 2002, federal judge Royce Lamberth was mowing his lawn in Washington when four carloads of FBI agents pulled up. The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)court was about to go into session. In the comfort of Lamberth’s living room, seven “emergency hearings” were held that day, as the FBI sought permission to use special investigative powers to counter terrorist or foreign threats. In a speech a week later, Lamberth recalled that his wife had to go upstairs because she didn’t have a top-secret clearance, but his dog Taffy got to stay, which pleased the agents, who were frequent visitors. “The FBI knows Taffy well,” he said. If the scene in Lamberth’s living room seems informal, the issues discussed there were among the most serious in government. The 11 judges of the FISA court are the only real-time checks on controversial surveillance and data-mining programs, like those recently revealed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, that allow the government to spy on Americans. The government says the court protects citizens from improper searches, but civil libertarians say it is too close to law enforcement to serve as a check on government overreach. Both sides agree that NSA surveillance has exploded since 9/11 and that the FISA court has scrambled to adapt. Created by Congress in 1978 and made up of federal district court judges selected by the Chief Justice of the United States, the FISA court originally had only the power to approve electronic surveillance of Americans and of foreigners in the U.S. believed to be acting on behalf of foreign powers or terrorist organizations. In the 1990s, Congress gave the court the power to authorize physical searches too, and in 2008 it gave the judges oversight of data-mining procedures and the tactics used to minimize invading Americans’ privacy. Critics say it’s a rubber stamp and point to statistics released by the court. In 2012 the government applied 1,789 times for permission to conduct electronic surveillance; the court modified 40 requests and denied none. The government withdrew one. More troubling are the blanket approvals the court has granted for programs like those revealed by Snowden that can collect virtually all metadata on phone calls and Internet communications in the U.S., declaring it all relevant to terrorism investigations. Even hawks worry that the FISA court order gives the FBI and NSA carte blanche to surveil Americans. Judge Reggie Walton, the current FISA court chief, released a rare statement in the wake of Snowden’s revelations, saying, “There is a rigorous review process of applications submitted by the Executive Branch, spearheaded initially by five Judicial Branch lawyers who are national-security experts and then by the judges.” The FISA court judges forced amendments to one broad surveillance program under George W. Bush’s Administration and recently found one aspect of another program unconstitutional. There has never been a documented case of abuse against a U.S. citizen. Two cases have been appealed to the special secret FISA Court of Review, which serves as the FISA court’s appeals body and whose three judges are selected by the Chief Justice from the federal bench. No cases have reached the Supreme Court, the final judicial authority over FISA investigations. Lamberth, who has since retired from the FISA court, was praised by civil libertarians in his day for standing up to the FBI, but critics worry that the court is structurally inclined to be too close to the Executive Branch. Several of the court lawyers who do the initial case reviews are alumni of the Justice and Pentagon offices that apply for warrants. The court only recently moved its chambers out of the Justice Department–a move meant to increase the appearance of independence. Emergency hearings at judges’ homes are still frequent. After Lamberth told the story of his dog, he was asked whether it was hard to deny the FBI what it wants. “Does the dog ever dissent?” the questioner asked. “The dog never dissents,” said Lamberth. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6643763/watching-the-watchers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6643763/watching-the-watchers/"},"headline":"Watching the Watchers","datePublished":"2013-07-08T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T16:35:01.761Z","description":"Is the secretive FISA court too close to the FBI and NSA?","url":"https://time.com/archive/6643763/watching-the-watchers/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt006be873ad4a966e/698a4557b3fce3c7bd0cb5ac/360_brnation_0708.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Massimo Calabresi","url":"https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt006be873ad4a966e/698a4557b3fce3c7bd0cb5ac/360_brnation_0708.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"360_brnation_0708.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Illustration by Oliver Munday for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6643763/watching-the-watchers/","name":"Watching the Watchers"}}]}] ```