FBI restricts information obtained from Carter Page FISA surveillance

The FBI has restricted all the evidence obtained through the wiretapping of former Trump campaign staffer Carter Page. Revealed in a Jan. 7 filing by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that was made public on Thursday, the government said the bureau chose to “sequester all collection the FBI acquired pursuant to the Court’s authorizations” to grant a warrant and three extensions for the electronic surveillance of Page, a U.S. citizen who was suspected of acting as an agent of Russia but was never charged with any wrongdoing.

The filing, signed off by presiding FISA court Judge James Boasberg, further stated that the "sequester" would remain in place until the completion of a further review of the DOJ inspector general report on the Page FISA warrants and the "outcome of related investigations and any litigation." "The government has not described what steps are involved in such sequestration or when it will be completed," Boasberg wrote. "It has, however, undertaken to 'provide an update to the court when the FBI completes the sequestration.'"

Boasberg's filing made headlines on Thursday for showing the Justice Department conceded that there was insufficient evidence to justify the last two of four orders covering the final several months of electronic surveillance of Page during the FBI's counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. The initial order came in October 2016, and the electronic surveillance stretched into the summer of 2017 with a trio of extensions at three-month intervals. It remains unclear whether the Justice Department believes the first two orders targeting Page were similarly flawed. ''Today’s unprecedented court filing represents another step on the road to recovery for America’s deeply damaged judicial system. I hope that this latest admission of guilt for these civil rights abuses by the Justice Department marks continued progress towards restoring justice and remedying these reputationally ruinous injuries," Page said in a statement.

Another brief filing that quietly popped up on the FISA court website Thursday showed the Justice Department requested a deadline extension for the delivery of information regarding minimization procedures designed to stem the disclosure of information about U.S. citizens under surveillance. Boasberg, who seeks the information so that the FISA court can "assess whether the handling and disposition of the information acquired" comports with FISA provisions, wrote that the government's request was granted, and a new deadline has been set for Feb. 5. The 'original deadline was Jan. 28'.

In December, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report criticizing the DOJ and the FBI for 17 “significant errors and omissions” in its submissions to the FISA court seeking authority to surveil Page and the reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s salacious and unverified dossier. The watchdog report showed that FBI interviews with Steele's primary source, beginning in January 2017 after the first FISA renewal, "raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting."

Following Horowitz's investigation, FBI Director Christopher Wray ordered more than 40 “corrective steps” to address the watchdog's report, including 12 reforms related to the FISA process. In a Jan. 10 response to the court, Wray said he "deeply regrets" the FBI's failures in the Page FISA process and offered a timetable of reforms and training the bureau is undertaking. David Kris, a former Justice Department lawyer picked to advise the FISA court on the reform process, submitted a brief that pushed for improved communications between FBI and DOJ attorneys on FISA matters beyond what the bureau has proposed.

The FISA court also ordered a review of all FISA filings handled by Kevin Clinesmith, the FBI lawyer who altered a key document about Page in the process to obtain the third warrant renewal. He is now under criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham, a prosecutor from Connecticut who was tasked by Attorney General William Barr with investigating the origins of the Russia inquiry.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/fbi-restricts-information-obtained-from-carter-page-fisa-surveillance

Note: While the wsj lacked source doc's this article provided them.

'We must act immediately': Swarms of locusts in Africa are worst in decades

Swarms of hungry locusts are devouring crops in Eastern Africa, the worst invasion of the insects in decades. The outbreak of desert locusts is the worst that Kenya has seen in 70 years, according to the Associated Press. The insects have been pouring into the country from Ethiopia and Somalia and leaving behind destroyed farmland in a part of the world already suffering from hunger. The United Nations said that the problem could increase in March when rainfall picks up across the area, bringing with it new vegetation. The swarms have the potential to balloon 500 times their size if measures are not taken to cull the locusts. '''“We must act immediately,” said David Phiri of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization

Farmers have attempted to guard their crops by banging pots and pans, although the efforts are largely futile as a single swarm can be comprised of up to 150 million of the bugs per square kilometer of farmland. “Even cows are wondering what is happening,” said Ndunda Makanga, a farmer in Kenya. “Corn, sorghum, cowpeas, they have eaten everything.” A single small swarm of locusts can eat through enough food for 35,000 people in a single day and can travel more than 90 miles in just one day.

Approximately $70 million is required to increase pesticide spraying, which is the only efficient way to stop the hordes of insects, although pest control is difficult in places such as Somalia, where large swaths of land are controlled by the Islamist group al Shabab. The locusts are also expanding out toward other countries such as Uganda and South Sudan, where farmers are worried their crops could be next.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/we-must-act-immediately-swarms-of-locusts-in-africa-are-worst-in-decades