In 1978 the congress in the United States commissioned the foreign intelligence surveillance court as a special court that is presided over by seven federal district court judges who reviews applications for warrants that is related to national security investigations. These judges are taken from the different judicial circuits in the United States and they serve for no-renewable terms of no more than seven years. The formation of the court was an essential part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (92 stat. 1783). The court requires that the government obtain a judicial warrant before they can start any intelligence operation.
The act was in response to a study done by the senate select committee with regards to governmental operations in regards to their intelligence activities. There were allegations that they were abusing the executive authority in regards to how they conduct domestic electronic surveillance in the best interest of national security. Also under the Fourth Amendment some kind of judicial warrant might also be required to conduct some form of national security related investigations. Continue reading