Rather, “verification” refers to the process laid out in the so-called “Woods procedures,”......  Yes, the FISA judges are completely aware of this as well.  It means the FBI represented the source accurately to the FISA court.  There's no loophole.  Everyone involved in FISA on all sides completely knows this. The FISA court has its own staff of lawyers to look into things and research legal precedent for the judge. FISA applications have to submit a "read copy" to the court 7 days before they expect a ruling. This is because the court often has questions and requires more information.  So it's not unusual to have a back and forth between the legal staff of the court and the National Security Division of the Justice Department.  The idea that the FBI can use a "loophole" to pull a fast on the court is false.  This is a view of outsiders who are unfamiliar with the process.  see bottom of page 7 of this PDF    https://www.fisc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/Correspondence%20Leahy-11-2013.pdf  Under FISA practice, the first set of interactions often take place at the staff level. The Court’s legal staff frequently interacts with the government in various ways in the context of examining the legal sufficiency of applications before they are presented in final form to a judge. Indeed, in the process of reviewing the government’s applications and submissions in order to provide advice to the judge, the legal staff interact with the government on a daily basis. These daily interactions typically consist of secure telephone conversations in which legal staff ask the government questions about the legal and factual elements of applications or submissions.