d) This bill is also known as FISA. Prior to the Patriot Act the purpose of FISA was to gather foreign intelligence. This worked well during the Cold War because it allowed spies to gather information from the USSR and to gather information inside the United States. The reason FISA worked so well during the Cold War is because of the "Primary Purpose" clause. This Primary Purpose made it clear the government must have a primary purpose and no other intentions. (Congressional Record: September 24) Congress recognized the potential abuse to civil liberties because of the poor wording of the bill. The job to clean up the sloppy writing of the bill was left to the courts: -
             To determine what the "primary purpose" of a surveillance was, courts looked to what type of federal investigators were managing and directing the surveillance operation. If intelligence investigators managed and directed the surveillance, courts interpreted the primary purpose of the surveillance to be gathering foreign intelligence, thus requiring the government to comply with the less stringent FISA surveillance procedures. On the other hand, if criminal investigators managed and directed the surveillance, courts interpreted the primary purpose of the surveillance to be gathering criminal evidence, thus requiring the government to comply with the more stringent Title III wiretap procedures or to exclude the evidence from court. (Congressional Record: September 24)
             What this means is essentially the separation of what is a criminal case and what FISA can legally use their wire tapping procedures for. The courts ruled that if FISA was obtaining evidence to build a criminal case than all evidence acquired through wire-tapping or other surveillance techniques were to be thrown out. The courts did a fantastic job making this clear and incorporating a check and balance to the system to keep it from destroying civil liberties.
             The balance the courts found to keep FI...