The FISA court isn't meant to be a public courtroom, hence it's location isn't public. Sorry but HN has jumped the shark lately with all of these NSA related posts, they seem to just be slapped together to elicit some kind of knee jerk outrage.
If one was actually concerned about the FISA courts location vs. just piling on with another "government bad" post on HN a little research would tell you that it is on the top floor of the Justice Department building. Source: my copy of Shadow Factory by James Bamford. Page 113. Published 2008.
But why is the FISA Court secret? What? They think the terrorists will get mad they allow the US government to spy on all Americans?
Come on. Let's be real here. There's only one real reason for that, and that's because they don't want the normal public to know just how far the spying and skirting of the Constitution goes.
A country with secret courts and secret laws and rulings is not a free country.
Why are is the FISA court secret? Because if the CIA went into a courtroom that was open to the public and asked for a warrant that was part of a legitimate investigation into a group planning an attack on the general public, then there is a good chance that the group could find out about it.
>Because if the CIA went into a courtroom that was open to the public and asked for a warrant that was part of a legitimate investigation into a group planning an attack on the general public, then there is a good chance that the group could find out about it.
You must consider there are reasons that the Rules are drafted in such a way, 1. they are Constitutional protections, 2. they are based on the collective jurisprudence.
I do not believe what is mentioned in the Rule is the existing procedure for filing "under seal" which has been created to take into account everything under the sun that should not be available for public examination: such as terrorist activities, names of minors, child pornography, ect...
The reason FISA exists at all is that the concept of the CIA going into court for a warrant to spy on foreigners is nonsensical. Foreigners don't have standing in federal court, and the CIA is not bound by the rules of federal procedure.
The point of FISA is to ensure that U.S. citizens are not swept up in intelligence activities that should be targetted solely at foreigners. If it operated properly, it would not matter much to U.S. citizens that it is secret.
Obviously it's not operating properly now--in part because of overreach by intelligence agencies, and in part because their oversight powers were reduced by Congress following 9/11.
If one was actually concerned about the FISA courts location vs. just piling on with another "government bad" post on HN a little research would tell you that it is on the top floor of the Justice Department building. Source: my copy of Shadow Factory by James Bamford. Page 113. Published 2008.