UNITED STATES FOREIGN
INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT
Washington, D.C.

Honorable Rosemary M. Collyer
Presiding Judge

February 15, 2018

Honorable Bob Goodlatte
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Goodlatte :
I write in response to your letter of January 16, 2018, in which you request that the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court provide you with certain documents and also release
certain information to the public.
The Court appreciates the interest of the House Judiciary Committee in its operations and
public confidence therein. As we have discussed with your staff, notwithstanding the existence
of Rule 62(c)(2), the Court has never previously received a request from Congress for the contents
of any specific FISA application or order, nor has the Court provided any to Congress. Thus, your
requests - and others I have recently received from Congress - present novel and significant
questions. The considerations involve not only prerogatives of the Legislative Branch, but also
interests of the Executive Branch, including its responsibility for national security and its need to
maintain the integrity of any ongoing law enforcement investigations.
Thank you for the courtesy of copying me on your February 1, 2018, letter to the
Department of Justice and the FBI in which you made requests for information similar to those
in your letter to us. Those agencies possess most, if not all, of the responsive materials the Court
might possess, and we have previously made clear to the Department, both formally and
informally, that we do not object to any decision by the Executive Branch to release any such

 FISA materials to Congress. I expect that their handling of your requests will inform the Court
as to how the Executive Branch perceives its interests and will assist us in our consideration of
the full range of issues; therefore we have asked the Department of Justice to keep us informed
regarding its response to your February 1 letter.

Sincerely,

RosemaryM. ollyq
Presiding Judge

cc:

Honorable Jerrold Nadler
Honorable Jeff Sessions
Honorable Christopher Wray

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