Despite concerns about the accuracy of some of the information that the F.B.I. has provided, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, which considers surveillance applications, approved all 932 requests for intelligence warrants from the Justice Department last year.
"Federal courts have consistently ruled that a president has authority under the Constitution to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance against our enemies," Mr. Bush said, making no reference to the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act, which sets out the "exclusive" rules for obtaining warrants from a court that operates in secret.
The department has also created a database for tracking search warrants from request to execution.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows for surveillance by obtaining warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Court (FISC) for up to 72 hours after the surveillance began.
But middle managers at F.B.I. headquarters who turned down requests from Minneapolis for warrants to search Mr. Moussaoui's belongings before Sept. 11 did not, the report says.
Mr. Samit seemed unable to satisfy Mr. Maltbie's demand that he provide a tangible link between Mr. Moussaoui and a foreign power, a requirement for a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Without the orthodox protection of a requirement for a warrant from an independent authority, the prospect of massive official access to and use of data will leave an otherwise beneficial law highly problematic.
In January, a story in the Guardian claimed that "the FBI applied for a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance (Fisa) court over the summer in order to monitor four members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials.
But according to the California Republican, the surveillance reports he received came from spying authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ― a measure that allows the FBI to apply for a warrant from the FISA court to monitor suspected agents of a foreign power.
And when police come looking for a warrant from a judge one they may have already determined is likely to give them one it's their word against no one's in that courtroom, as suspects certainly aren't given a chance to defend themselves in that setting.
