Electronic surveillance

What to know about FISA court, the super-secret panel that grants surveillance warrants

It may be the most powerful court you have never heard of -- operating out of a bunker-like complex just blocks from the U.S. Capitol and White House, sealed tightly to prevent any eavesdropping.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court deals with some of the most sensitive matters of national security -- terror threats and espionage. Its work for the most part cannot be examined by the American public, by order of the Congress and the President. It is a tribunal that is completely secret (or supposed to be), its structure largely one-sided, and its members unilaterally chosen by one person.

A rotating panel of federal judges at the FISC decides whether to grant certain types of government requests -- wiretapping, data analysis, and other monitoring for "foreign intelligence purposes" of suspected terrorists and spies operating in the United States.

Members of Congress worry the FISC -- at the unilateral urging of current and past administrations-- is interpreting the surveillance law way too broadly, something lawmakers say they did not intend.

The FISC court was created in 1978, part of a congressional overhaul to ensure broader oversight into the use of warrants for certain national security operations. It is made up of 11 judges who sit for seven-year terms. All are sitting federal district court judges who agree to take on the additional FISC duties and it is a rotating bench.