FISA Candor-Order Compliance Register

PROBLEM: On Dec 17, 2019 Presiding Judge Rosemary M. Collyer issued an order (Misc. 19-02) finding the FBI's handling of the Carter Page applications "was antithetical to the heightened duty of candor" and that the frequency of unsupported or contradicted representations "calls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable." She ordered the government to report by Jan 10, 2020 what it had done and planned to do to ensure FISA applications accurately reflect the facts. On Mar 4, 2020 Judge Boasberg issued an Opinion and Order finding "there is thus little doubt that the government breached its duty of candor to the Court" and directing that every attorney submitting a FISA application make a written candor representation. The DOJ had notified the court that two of the four applications (Docket Nos. 17-375 and 17-679) lacked sufficient evidence for probable cause and were invalid. On Jan 10, 2020 Boasberg appointed former DOJ official David S. Kris as amicus curiae. The secret court's own rebuke is the strongest oversight document in the file — and it sits in a docket the public rarely reads.

SOLUTION: A candor-order compliance register: the Collyer order, the Boasberg opinion, the DOJ's admission on the two invalid applications, the amicus appointment, and the government's compliance response — tracked in one register so a court's rebuke cannot be filed and forgotten.

EVIDENCE BASIS: DOCUMENTED — Collyer order Dec 17, 2019 (Misc. 19-02; "antithetical to the heightened duty of candor"; Jan 10, 2020 deadline); Boasberg Opinion and Order Mar 4, 2020 (breach of duty of candor; candor representation required); DOJ admission that applications 17-375 and 17-679 lacked probable cause; Kris amicus appointment Jan 10, 2020. Sources: FISC Misc. 19-02 orders; Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse.