The watchdog for the Department of Justice says it plans to initiate a review of the FBI’s “compliance with legal requirements” in applications filed with the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court relating to a certain U.S. person.
The review is a response to requests by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and members of Congress, according to Wednesday’s announcement by the inspector general, and it will cover what the FBI knew and its relationship with a confidential source prior to filing applications under the FISC.
Though the “certain U.S. person” is unnamed in the announcement, a memo released in February 2018 by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee criticized the FBI for its Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
In particular, it criticized the use of a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, which was financed by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
House Intelligence Democrats called the memo “cherry picked” and released their own unclassified memo defending the actions of the FBI.
According to the IG announcement, the watchdog will be reviewing both the FISA application as well as “other issues that may arise during the course of the review.”
Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.
