Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Now that some of the dust has settled in the wake of the revelations about NSA and GCHQ surveillance of foreign leaders, it is a good time for the United States to engage in a bit of surveillance diplomacy.  In other words, U.S. experts should be having conversations in public fora around the world about the who, what, and why of domestic and foreign electronic surveillance.  Although not all of the ambiguity about U.S. law has been put to bed by the USA FREEDOM Act (see the ACLU's recently filed case here and the Second Circuit/FISC split here), the U.S. electronic surveillance landscape is now clearer.  That means that the U.S. Government is in as good a position as it ever will be to discuss its surveillance laws and policies with foreign journalists, academics, think tanks, and other actors who influence public opinion.