Sections 1801(a)(4 thru 6) or 1801(b or c) have more to do with terrorists. I'm wondering if the Executive Branch action that President Bush took pursuent to the 9/11 Report modified the scope of 1801(a)(1)(A)(i) to allow the authorization of electronic surveillance to the wider group above. It would certainly seem justified. I think the 1978 wording was aimed at the espionage community tied in with foreign embassies. I guess the detail here is the definition of United States person.
1801(i): "'United States person' means a citizen of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence (as defined in section 1101(a)(20) of title 8), an unincorporated association of a substantial number of members of which are citizens of the United States or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, or a corporation which isw incorporated in the United States, but does not include a corporation or an association which is a foreign power, as defined in subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) of this section."
I would think "lawfully admitted" would exclude aliens here on fraudulant papers and on temporary (and expired) visas.
The problem I have is that powers in this section are subject to (annual) review in a couple of Senate committees, not in the MSM. W says the parameters and particulars of these taps have been reviewed approximately every 45 days with NSA and FBI and (presumably) the appropriate committees in Congress about a dozen times (with no complaints to now). The NYT stops sitting on this leaked operation, and the Dems go on the attack publically. It isn't that this section of the law is secret; I found it with a couple of minutes in public record online.
They only secrets the MSM hasn't released are contained in John Kerry's service record.