Grand juries investigating ordinary crimes traditionally have had the power to issue subpoenas to all manner of businesses, including libraries and bookstores...
DOJ seems to miss the point that grand juries do this stuff because the government can't be trusted to do it without the check/balance that grand juries supposedly provide. They're using the existence of the citizens' check on government power to justify a power that has no such check. Typical government doublespeak.
Maybe that's the best we can do: can we have grand juries for these intelligence investigations- a FISA grand jury just for warrants?
It's a power that's long been recognized as valuable, we don't want to deny it in these cases.
As long as the foreign agent requirement is there I'm happy ( which is why I'd like to see it spelled out more clearly in 215 like it is in the rest of the Patriot Act).
Bills of Attainder anyone?
That's how these matters were handled before the Constitution.
And until the Church committee they were handled by the Executive howsoever it wished without any oversight.