Jordan To Horowitz On Woods File

May 1, 2020
The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz

Inspector General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 4706
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Inspector General Horowitz:
We continue to closely follow the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s

(OIG) examination of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA) applications targeting U.S. Persons. We appreciate the recent telephone
briefing that the OIG provided to the Committee about the OIG’s March 30th Management
Advisory Memorandum.1 We write to ask that the OIG seek additional information from the FBI
about its FISA applications targeting U.S. Persons.
In December 2019, in the wake of finding significant FBI misconduct in FISA

applications to surveil former Trump campaign associate Carter Page, the OIG initiated a
comprehensive audit of FISA applications targeting U.S. Persons.2 On March 30, while this audit
was ongoing, the OIG issued a rare Management Advisory Memorandum to alert the Justice
Department, FBI, and Congress of substantial concerns stemming from the OIG’s preliminary
review, including serious deficiencies in all 29 FISA applications reviewed.3
The Memorandum detailed substantial FBI noncompliance with Woods Procedures, a

safeguard designed to minimize factual inaccuracies in FISA applications by requiring the FBI
maintain supporting documentation for each factual assertion in the application.4 Specifically,
the OIG found unsupported, uncorroborated, or inconsistent information in the Woods files of all
1
Telephone Briefing with Staff, Off. of Insp. Gen., Dep’t of Justice (April 21, 2020) [hereinafter “OIG Telephone
Briefing”]; see Dep’t of Justice Off. of Inspector Gen., Management Advisory Memorandum for the Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation Regarding the Execution of Woods Procedures for Applications Filed with the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Relating to U.S. Persons (Mar. 2020). [hereinafter “Management
Advisory”].
2
See Management Advisory, supra note 1, at 1-2; Dep’t of Justice Off. of Inspector Gen., Review of Four FISA
Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation (Dec. 2019); “Protecting those who
blow the whistle on government wrongdoing”: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Gov’t Operations, of the H. Comm.
on Oversight & Reform 116th Cong. (2019) (statement of Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector Gen., Dep’t of Justice)
(“We are doing a follow up audit because one of the questions we had coming away from this was, is this happened
– did this happen only in this case...”).
3
See Management Advisory, supra note 1, at 7-8.
4
Id. at 3.
May 1, 2020
Page 2
25 surveillance applications on U.S Persons that the OIG was able to review.5 The FBI was
unable to locate the Woods files for four additional files that the OIG had requested—meaning
the OIG could not review those applications.6 As of April 21, the OIG reported to the Committee
that FBI had not yet located or followed-up on these four missing Woods files.7 In the 25 Woods
files that the OIG was able to review, the OIG “identified an average of about 20 issues per
application,” with 65 issues in one FISA application alone.8
The OIG informed the Committee that the 29 FISA applications reviewed were a
representative sample of FISA applications targeting U.S. Persons during the relevant period of
the audit, 2014 to 2019.9 The OIG concluded that based on the FBI’s systemic noncompliance
with its Woods Procedures, the OIG “lack[ed] confidence” that the FBI is achieving the
“‘scrupulously accurate’ standard for FISA applications” submitted to the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court.10 In fact, in response to the OIG Memorandum, the Court agreed, opining
that “[i]t would be an understatement to note that such lack of confidence appears well
founded.”11
As Congress continues to consider reauthorization of—and reforms to—FISA, we would

benefit from a thorough OIG examination of the FBI’s adherence to Woods Procedures in FISA.
Accordingly, we request that the OIG seek a progress report from the FBI by May 15, 2020, on
the following topics:
1. Changes, if any, that the FBI has made to its Woods Procedures directly as a result of
the OIG’s Management Advisory Memorandum dated March 30, 2020;
2. The steps, if any, that the FBI has undertaken to locate the four missing Woods files;
3. If FBI is unable to locate the four missing Woods files, a detailed explanation from
the FBI for why it is unable to locate the Woods files; and
4. Details about how, if at all, the FBI used information collected from the 29 FISA
applications in non-FISA contexts, including but not limited to criminal indictments,
sentencing memoranda, non-FISA search warrants, and other court filings.
5
Id. at 7.
6
Id.
7
OIG Telephone Briefing, supra note 1.
8
Management Advisory, supra note 4, at 7.
9
OIG Telephone Briefing, supra note 1.
10
See Management Advisory, supra note 4, at 8 (“As a result, we do not have confidence that the FBI has executed
its Woods Procedures in compliance with FBI policy, or that the process is working as it was intended to help
achieve the ‘scrupulously accurate’ standard for FISA applications.”).
11
Order, In re Accuracy Concerns Regarding FBI Matters Submitted to the FISC, No. Misc. 19-02, 2 (FISA Ct.
April 3, 2020).
May 1, 2020
Page 3
We also respectfully request that you provide an estimated timeframe of when the OIG
anticipates completing various phases of its audit, including when the OIG anticipates releasing
the audit report. We appreciate your prompt attention to these requests.
Sincerely,
Jim Jordan
Ranking Member
cc: The Honorable Jerrold L. Nadler, Chairman

The Honorable William P. Barr, Attorney General, Department of Justice
The Honorable Christopher A. Wray, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

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May 1, 2020

The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz

Dear Inspector General Horowitz:

We continue to closely follow the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s

In December 2019, in the wake of finding significant FBI misconduct in FISA

The Memorandum detailed substantial FBI noncompliance with Woods Procedures, a

As Congress continues to consider reauthorization of—and reforms to—FISA, we would

cc: The Honorable Jerrold L. Nadler, Chairman

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