Overview[]
The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC also the FISA court) was created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). As originally constituted the FISC was made up of seven U.S. district court judges publicly designated by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. As amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, the membership in FISC was expanded to eleven members, at least three of whom must live within a 20 mile radius of the District of Columbia.
The FISC oversees requests for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States by federal law enforcement agencies.