Updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

By Ari Shapiro

Published January 3, 2008 at 7:00 AM AST

Updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is one of Congress's top priorities in 2008. FISA, as the law is known, generally tells the president that he must have a court order to spy on Americans in the United States. The law has not restricted the president's ability to wiretap Americans traveling abroad. Some Congressional Democrats want to change that.

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Ari Shapiro

Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR's flagship afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. He has reported from above the Arctic Circle and aboard Air Force One. He has covered wars in Iraq, Ukraine, and Israel, and he has filed stories from dozens of countries and most of the 50 states. His debut memoir, The Best Strangers In the World, was an instant New York Times bestseller. He is also a frequent guest singer with the "little orchestra" Pink Martini, and he regularly tours the country as a cabaret artist with the actor Alan Cumming.