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into the computers. Even though NSA's specialized supercomputers
have enormous storage capacities, the tremendous number of targets forces
the Agency to squeeze the watch lists together as tightly as possible.


P462-465: Its power to eavesdrop, the NSA had always insisted, came under no
earthly laws but rather emanated from some celestial "inherent presidential
authority" reposed in the chief executive by the Constitution.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy tried year after year to pass legislation to
require the NSA to submit to judicial review.

Finally, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] was signed into
law by president Carter on October 25, 1978.

The key to the legislation could only have been dreamed up by Franz Kafka:
the establishment of a supersecret federal court.

The legislation established a complex authorization procedure and added a
strict "minimization" requirement to prohibit the use and distribution of
communications involving Americans inadvertently picked up during the
intercept operations.

These requirements constitute the most important parts of the FISA law, a


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