A Title 3 Application is basically a search Warrant to eavesdrop (wiretap) a US Citizen, as there is Probable Cause (PC) that has been presented to a Federal Court (Judge), to believe the Citizen has violated Federal Law, all other efforts have failed, and the court agrees and issues a Court Order to wiretap.
That is about as simple an explanation as I could provide to what it is. The FISA Application is basically the same thing, to eavesdrop on Foreign Citizens who are believed to be committing Crimes against the US, using wire communications (phone, and now computers) in furtherance of their crimes.
The Rules and Laws governing both are extreme, in all ways — in some ways the same (i.e. Our Rule of Law and Constitution apply to both for Citizens), and very different in others (US Citizens are protected by law from being monitored on a FISA warrant by severe restrictions to protect their Civil Constitutional Rights against “unlawful search and seizure”). Unmasking their names is a felony unless certain procedures are followed.
By way of full disclosure, I have never worked on a FISA warrant and have limited knowledge, but have read the law. I have worked on many Title 3 investigations, in all aspects; start to finish (Court). The “aspects “are interviews, surveillance, monitoring while paying very close attention to the Rules, Regulations, the Laws, and restrictions set by the courts. The PC to build a case is almost so severe, so cumbersome, and time consuming that by the time we satisfied our FBI review process, the DOJ review process, the Court added restrictions, the original information is antiquated (30 days old), phone numbers changed, and we had to start all over!
The work leading to the Application involves physical surveillances (hundreds of hours), court-ordered “pen registers” (today it’s probably digital), which is a sealed court order to establish numbers being called. It involves a sealed search warrant to conduct a survey, many interviews. The hundreds of hours of physical surveillance eats up manpower and oftentimes many Field Offices help with manpower. The Application Process is VERY cumbersome, extensive, extremely well supervised on numerous levels, and Agents who work the wire MUST sign “minimization” instructions. Minimization is the elimination of things we cannot listen to. The best example is probably “Attorney client” privacy. We must stop monitoring and depending on the court order, must wait until the call ends.
The Civil Rights of all are well known by all the Agents working the case, and everyone has to read the warrants, Applications, minimizations, Court orders and sign off that they have read and understand. There were NO Excuses accepted for not knowing (for example, that we couldn’t listen to the Subject and Attorney)…no excuses allowed!!! A lot like Hillary Clinton’s Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that she signed swearing to protect all State Department Communications…with no excuses! There were/are severe civil penalties for violating a Citizens Civil Rights. For example, the court allows triple damages, and if punitive damages are awarded, no government Agency can pay for Punitive damages, so we all paid for and carried personal liability insurance!
Now, when providing PC for the Applications, it was a well-known fact and constant concern, especially by the prosecutors, that every bit of “exculpatory” information (information that favors the subject) must be disclosed completely, and all information had to be verified, or not used. For example, if a source gave the address and phone numbers regarding someone, it must be supported by personal observations or physical evidence (like a pen register) or not used. If the information were “hearsay”, it could not be used unless verified…by personal knowledge, that supports the hearsay. An example would be Source I reported that he was told by a reliable source that John Doe was seen exiting a hotel commonly used by prostitutes and believes John Doe exited the room commonly used by the prostitutes. None of that information could be put into an Affidavit that I would sign…none!
Let’s say, Source 1 stated he placed bets with the main subject over the phone, personally, and Source 1 is a known Bookmaker himself and competes with the Subject for business. If that information is known by the Affiant (that the Source is a main competitor of the subject) and not disclosed to the court, that could possibly be suppressed in a suppression hearing and make that Warrant a “Poison Tree”. That’s an over simplification, but if the warrant were based mainly upon that source, then, for certain, there would be a major problem, because no judge I ever signed an Affidavit in front of would sign if that source were the foundation of the PC and he was the only competition to the subject’s Bookmaking operation! Sound familiar?
That the Dossier was paid for by or to be used for political reasons is inadequate and should never been allowed to slide, and not further explained, by the Court!
Now, the “why” the Steele/Clinton Dossier is so vital to the illegal Special Counsel, FBI Counter-intel case and the Mueller convictions….
The former FBI Director said on National TV, as we all saw and heard, that the Dossier is “salacious and unverified”, in January 2017. The Carter Page warrant was Issued October 2016, four months earlier and signed by Comey!!! If it was unverified in January 2017, it was unverified in October 2016!
There is no legal doubt that the Dossier was primary PC to the Page warrant, ADIC McCabe said so, and that the Dossier is useless for PC whether Hillary handed Steele the million cash personally or claims she has no idea Steele was paid one million dollars of her money! If one reads the purchase agreement Hillary signed to purchase the DNC, one will see that Hillary must approve all expenditures…so if the DNC paid Fusion GPS which paid Steele, Hillary is correct, she is “fucked”, as she said after the CNN debate!!!
But that is just one crime Hillary and ALL the signors of the 1st Page warrant committed…there are many, many more! I believe most or even possibly all of the Mueller convictions will be reversed by the Courts. Most certainly all the cases that were initiated using the Dossier will be reversed, and if they are not, the President must get involved and wipe them all clean…not just “pardon”. Get the cases back to the court, and order the FBI to identify all the Mueller cases that used the Dossier for PC, provide the court with the “new” evidence, and order him to dismiss the conviction and expunge their records!
Anything…I mean anything…….that was initiated by the Hillary/Steele Dossier is illegal, period.
Senator Nadler, if you don’t believe me, sign up for Alan Dershowitz’s class and raise your hand and ask him, then explain it to Shitty. Don’t bother with Maxine or Swallow. They won’t understand what you’re talking about!
There is so many more investigations needed; the FISA Court, if they pulled “this” shot what other abuses are there…why did the FISA court require the freaking Director of the FBI and Acting AG to sign? I never heard of such a requirement for Title 3…! How involved are Brennan, Clapper, and Lynch as well as the boss, Obama!? I suspect, VERY involved!
Mr. AG, the clock is running…let’s get a Grand Jury seated and start presenting all that Comey divulged. Just leave off his opinion…let the GJ decide this time if she and her staff should be indicted…then present against Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Baker, Yates, the Ohrs, et al…how ironic!