Declassified Top Secret Report Details Spying on Americans

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court describes Obama-era surveillance practices as 'a very serious Fourth Amendment issue'

Former Director of the FBI James Comey (2nd L) and Director of the NSA Michael Rogers on Capitol Hill on May 20. A FISA Court report details how communications of Americans were unlawfully monitored by U.S. spy agencies, and that some of the communications were passed to contractors by the FBI. DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES

A recently declassified, top secret court report shows that the Obama administration monitored the communications of American citizens. The report says the administration concealed its abuses, violated the Constitution, and illegally shared this spy data.

The 99-page report was released by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court), which oversees requests for surveillance warrants. The report’s contents were filed on Sept. 26, 2016, and March 30, 2017. It was marked top secret, but was declassified on April 26.

“This is a very serious Fourth Amendment issue,” the report states, and notes the Obama administration’s surveillance activities using the National Security Agency (NSA), and its failures to disclose such information previously, showed “an institutional ‘lack of candor.’”