Administration presses for renewal of FISA surveillance authority

05/03/12: Secrecy News reports that the Obama Administration is urging Congress to renew provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act that are set to expire at the end of this year. “Reauthorizing this authority is the top legislative priority of the Intelligence Community,” wrote Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Attorney General Eric Holder in a February 8 letter to Congress. One of the key provisions, they explained, would permit the electronic surveillance of entire categories of non-US persons who are located abroad “without the need for a court order for each individual target.”