>>6311117 lb

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/12/security-fears-fbi-contracting-out-sensitive-surveillance-documents

Bob Martin, a senior vice-president at Aveshka, said the contract began in 2015 and was worth less than $1m. Aveskha employees, he said, “relatively junior folks”, work within the FBI’s Fisa unit, which prepares, handles and organizes the basis for surveillance applications under the law for the secret Fisa court. The surveillance applications are prepared by the FBI but can concern surveillance from other intelligence agencies, including the NSA.

An online job posting from the firm describes its responsibilities as including “prepar[ing] Fisa documents which shall include the review and selection of relevant documents and other materials”; “[d]eliver and pickup FISA, FISA orders, and other classified documents to and from Executive Management, the Department of Justice, and other sources at scheduled times/dates”; and “[d]isseminat[ing] FISA orders and add[ing] document to electronic files and data repositories”, including the FBI’s database for tracking Fisa cases.

Martin told the Guardian the bulk of the firm’s functional responsibilities were “supporting the logistics operation” of the FBI concerning Fisa-related documents. He said he believed Aveshka employees working on the contract for the FBI held top-secret clearances and involved physically couriering the Fisa-relevant documents.Ed Shaw, who retired from the FBI in 2014 after a 25-year career, said that ensuring Aveshka personnel held security clearances mitigated the risk of a surveillance leak. But Shaw said the material contained within Fisa submissions were amongst the most sensitive classified material the US government possessed, particularly when concerning renewals of surveillance-court orders.