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And it was illegal to intercept Axis communications during WWII

And of course it was illegal to intercept communicaitons during the cold war.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Title 50 of the U.S. Code, Chapter 36, Subchapter I, Section 1802, "Electronic surveillance authorization without court order," reads: "[T]he President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year," provided a series of conditions are met. Surveillance must be directed only at agents of foreign powers; there can be no likely surveillance of a "U.S. person"

The "U.S. person" definition "does not include a corporation or an association which is a foreign power," according to the same law. An "agent of a foreign power" is anyone, citizen or otherwise, who "knowingly engages in sabotage or international terrorism, or activities that are in preparation therefor, for or on behalf of a foreign power." Which means that people who do not help al-Qaeda or other terrorists are safe from surveillance

14th Circuit's 1980 decision case, involving the surveillance of a Vietnamese spy named David Truong, "The Truong court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." The court added, "We take it for granted that the President does have that authority."

The court in the Truong case noted that the executive "not only has superior expertise in the area of foreign intelligence, it is also constitutionally designated as the pre-eminent authority in foreign affairs." And the Constitution's framers knew what they were about, according to the Truong court: "Attempts to counter foreign threats to the national security require the utmost stealth, speed and secrecy. A warrant requirement would add a procedural hurdle that would reduce the flexibility of executive foreign-intelligence initiatives."

Your reading of FISA is incorrect.

Section 1802, subsection (a)(1)(A)(i) states that warrantless electronic surveillance can only be directed at communications that are "exclusively between or among foreign powers". The definition of foreign powers comes from Section 1801, subsection (a)(1)(2)(3):

(a) “Foreign power” means—
(1) a foreign government or any component thereof, whether or not recognized by the United States;
(2) a faction of a foreign nation or nations, not substantially composed of United States persons;
(3) an entity that is openly acknowledged by a foreign government or governments to be directed and controlled by such foreign government or governments;

Note that the definition of a foreign power does not include subsections (4)(5) and (6) of 1801(a).

And then there is there is Section 1802, subsection (a)(1)(B) which states that warrantless electronic surveillance can only be conducted when "there is no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party". The definition of a United States person comes from Section 1801, subsection (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 a substantial number of members of which are citizens of the United States or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, or a corporation which is 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.

There is no way around it. Under FISA, it is plainly illegal to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance on a US citizen (even if that person is involved in terrorism).