FISA was abused. But that’s no reason to end it

Published December 20, 2019 5:00am ET



“Sloppiness” is a term often used to describe a rushed paint job, a dropped pass, or barbecue that isn’t cooked low and slow. But in the case of former FBI Director James Comey, it’s also his word for the abuse of power that took place under his leadership.

The report released last week by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz outlines the series of serious mistakes made by the FBI in the counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. Chief among them is the agency’s abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That law seeks to prevent exploitation of the government’s surveillance powers. To that end, it created the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA court, to oversee surveillance requests in the name of national security.

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