Argument: DOJ IG reportJustice Department Inspector General’s Report Raises Troubling Questions About FBI’s Role in FISA

Published 16 December 2019

The Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that the FBI’s initiation of the Russia probe met legal standards, but the report issued last Monday by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) strongly criticized the FBI’s handling of one aspect of the probe: the request for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) wiretap of ex-Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page and subsequent renewals of the FISA. Peter Margulies writes that along with the record of Russian election interference compiled in the Russia probe, institutional reforms to the FISA process will be a valuable legacy of the investigation.

The Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that the FBI’s initiation of the Russia probe met legal standards, but the report issued last Monday by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) strongly criticized the FBI’s handling of one aspect of the probe: the request for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) wiretap of ex-Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page and subsequent renewals of the FISA.

Peter Margulies writes in Lawfare that

The OIG report concludes that FBI agents who provided information to senior FBI and Justice Department officials in support of the FISA request misled their superiors on three key issues: Page’s prior work with another (unnamed) U.S. government intelligence agency (apparently the Central Intelligence Agency); his denials of involvement with specific Russian intelligence operatives; and the reliability of ex-British spy Christopher Steele, of “Steele dossier” fame, a key source for the FISA request. Indeed, according to the OIG report, the serious nature of these errors and FBI senior officials’ failure to detect and remedy them over time raised “significant questions” about the effectiveness of the FBI “chain of command’s management and supervision of the FISA process” (p. 378).

Margulies adds:

While the FBI director’s response [to the IG report] apparently did not go far enough for President Trump, who had hoped for a broader condemnation of the entire Russia probe, Wray wisely tailored his comments and remedies to address the flaws that the OIG report identified…. Wray agreed with the OIG’s recommendation to require senior Justice Department officials’ approval in order to open investigations that could implicate First Amendment interests, such as probes of national political campaigns…. Along with the record of Russian election interference compiled in the Russia probe, such institutional reforms will be a valuable legacy of the investigation.