There is a new bill before the Senate on surveillance in the US. This seems to be some backpedalling with regards as to whether or not the NSA monitoring of US citizenry was legal. Well, here is an attempt to make it legal.
(1) the President determines that the surveillance is
necessary to protect the United States, its citizens, or its
interests, whether inside the United States or outside the
United States;
(2) there is probable cause to believe that one party
subject to the surveillance is an agent or member of a group or
organization, affiliated with a group or organization, or
working in support of a group or organization on the list
established under section 3;
(3) the surveillance is initiated and conducted in a manner
reasonably designed to acquire only communications to or from
the United States where–
(A) at least one party to such communications is
reasonably believed to be physically located outside
the United States; or
(B) such communications appear to originate or
terminate outside the United States;
(4) there is not a substantial likelihood that the
surveillance will acquire the substance of any communication
where every party to such communication is physically located
within the United States;
(5) a significant purpose of the surveillance is to obtain
foreign intelligence information; and
(6) minimization procedures are in place with respect to
the surveillance which meet the standards for minimization
procedures under section 101(h) of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801(h)).
The short story is that this will permit the government to monitor US citizens for at least 45 days in order to “determine” if there is any malfeasance.