# FISA > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "FISA," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fisa/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the U.S. legal framework governing surveillance warrants for foreign-intelligence purposes. Per John Kiriakou, FISA is dangerously easy to abuse, he cites Carter Page, whose life was ruined and who was driven into bankruptcy after the Steele dossier was used to support four FISA applications against him. Kiriakou groups FISA with the Patriot Act and Section 702 as the legal architecture stripping Americans of constitutional protections, opposed by only a handful of legislators.* - **Full name:** Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - **Function:** Warrant framework for foreign-intelligence surveillance - **Per Kiriakou:** Dangerously easy to weaponize against individuals - **Cited abuse:** Carter Page, four FISA applications based on the Steele dossier **FISA**, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is the U.S. legal framework that governs surveillance warrants for foreign-intelligence purposes. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) describes it as one of the most easily abused instruments in the surveillance state. ## Carter Page [Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) cites the case of Carter Page, against whom the Steele dossier, which he characterizes as the *"dirty dossier"*, was used to support *"not one, but four FISA applications."* His framing: *"You know how easy it is to ruin a person's life with FISA?"* He notes Page was driven into bankruptcy, and that one of Page's lawyers was the same attorney Kiriakou had used.[1] ## Part of the surveillance architecture [Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) groups FISA with the [Patriot Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/patriot-act) and [Section 702](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/section-702) as the legal machinery that erodes Americans' constitutional protections. He names [Thomas Massie](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-massie), Rand Paul, and Ro Khanna as among the very few legislators willing to oppose it, concluding that three votes out of 535 cannot turn the tide, and that he is not optimistic about the future of American privacy.[2] He cites Mike Johnson as a case study in how the security state co-opts even its critics: Johnson once led a congressional Weaponization Committee investigating FBI mass-surveillance abuses, but became the tie-breaking vote to approve Section 702 surveillance without reforms once he became Speaker of the House.[3] ## Origins, 702, and the Carter Page test case [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) traces [FISA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fisa) to Senator Ted Kennedy, who he says was *"instrumental in the passage of FISA"* under President Jimmy Carter in the immediate wake of Watergate, motivated by concerns about *"foreign involvement in American political machinations."* The statute created the secret court that sits on the top floor of the Justice Department, off-limits to the public, its rotating federal district-court judges permitting the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) and [FBI](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fbi) to obtain warrants that cannot be released to the American people.[4][5][6] Kiriakou treats [Carter Page](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/russiagate) as the textbook demonstration of how FISA was turned on Americans it was never intended to reach: an American citizen who came under repeatedly renewed FISA warrants despite there being *"no evidence that he had ever committed a crime,"* an abuse he attributes to *"[John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan) … denying Donald Trump the presidency."*[7][8][9] ## Section 702 Kiriakou notes that Section 702 of FISA, which was up for reauthorisation as of April 2026, permits ongoing *"secret warrantless"* electronic surveillance, and that on his account nobody in government will disclose the threshold that triggers a Section 702 collection. He distinguishes the legitimate battlefield-adjacent use, identifying individuals or small groups planning terrorist attacks overseas, from what he calls the abusive domestic use, in which *"the CIA, the FBI and NSA"* pick out an interesting-looking American citizen like a podcast host and *"check him out"* despite his constitutional protection.[7][10][11] ## See also - [Patriot Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/patriot-act) - [Section 702](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/section-702) - [Government Purchase of Social Media Metadata](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/government-metadata-purchase) - [Edward Snowden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/edward-snowden) ## Sources 1. KIRIAKOU: The 'Lawfare' Against Me Was the Template to Destroy Trump (2026-04-16), at 45:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfVLIxhuDHc&t=2700s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-16-hang-out-with-sean-hannity-lawfare-template/ 2. Favorite CIA Work, NATO Espionage, Is Privacy Dead? & More I Going Deeper with JK - DEEP FOCUS (2026-02-10), at 21:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL3hLxeEA1E&t=1260s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-10-deep-focus-favorite-cia-work-nato-espionage-privacy/ 3. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Confronts the Deep State, (2025-06-25), at 14:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-8pQrcfQ8U&t=869s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-25-harrison-berger/ 4. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:02:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=3733s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 5. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:02:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=3764s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 6. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:03:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=3795s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 7. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:03:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=3826s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 8. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:04:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=3888s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 9. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:05:19. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=3919s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 10. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:10:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4231s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 11. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:11:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4261s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fisa/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt