The whole point of the FISA system is to create a false belief in the mind of the public, that the government is judicious in snooping. Give it up already. The government snoops at will, all it has to do is assert "foreign intelligence" and no warrant is needed as a matter of ConLaw. See the Kieth case.
And that phrase, "FISA abuse," that legitimizes the system. What is being abused is the power, not the widget that is supposed to regulate the power. The FBI will snoop whoever it wants to, and there is nothing anybody can do about it unless the material tries to come into a criminal case. And FISA material, by its nature never comes into view in a criminal case. When it is filed (rarely) the government always files it under seal and ex parte, and the courts preserve FISA secrecy.
FISA is make work for I would guess a couple thousand fed employees, maybe more. Total waste. The FISA system does not prevent abuse of power.
I mostly agree with you about the mindlessness of the FISA process, and how it is an excuse for secrecy with a host of safeguards that not only don’t work, but aren’t intended to work.
Some facts for estimating the workload from Wikipedia:
- Over 33 years, there have been 33,942 FISA warrants granted,
- ... with only 12 denials.
That works out to roughly 1000 warrants per year, or 4 per working day. It’s a lot, but not so many that some care can’t be exercised (although with that approval percentage, it’s obvious that its usually treated as a rubber stamp).