How did surveillance powers get so out of control and what did the FREEDOM act do to try and reign in abuses? Key to understanding what happened regarding FISA as extremely illegal. Sections 214, 215, 218 of the Patriot act These sections are what expanded the powers of FISA and allowed for unwarranted dragnet surveillance to be gathered and used. A good example of the kind of change brought about under the USAPA, which illustrates the underlying and pre-existing agenda of its proponents, is section 218, which amends a single phrase in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The purpose of FISA was to allow intelligence agencies to gather information about foreign powers without the restrictions imposed on them by the Constitution. The reasoning for this was that the purpose of foreign intelligence gathering is not to detect crimes but to gather information about foreign agents. Under FISA, when an agent wanted to obtain authority to conduct electronic surveillance or secret physical searches, a designated official of the executive office had to certify that "the purpose" for the surveillance was to obtain foreign intelligence information. Section 218 of the USAPA modifies that clause so that intelligence gathering need not be "the purpose," - in other words, it need no longer be the primary purpose, -- but may be only "a significant purpose" of the surveillance. This means that if an official can certify that obtaining foreign intelligence is a significant purpose of a surveillance action (the other purpose clearly being criminal investigation), he can avoid the requirement that he first show probable cause of criminal activity. It means the FBI, the CIA, or any other intelligence agency, can surveil you without probable cause, as long as they say the surveillance has something to do with a foreign intelligence investigation of some sort (which may otherwise not even involve you directly). Executive Order 12333 Signed by Reagan forced the intelligence agencies to co-operate with and share intel with the CIA. Executive Order 13355  Signed by Bush Jr. to create the role of Director of National Intelligence  Executive Order 13470 expanded and strengthened the role of the DNI to be on par with that of the Attorney General when it comes to matters of surveillance. Section 702 upstream data collection The FISA section that allows for mass surveillance and umbrella surveillance [think Carter Page umbrella surveillance of Trump team] USA Freedom Act renewed and amended parts of the PATRIOT act in an attempt to curtail abuses of the FISA court and PATRIOT act powers. I highly recommend you read over the sections in that article but I will try to paraphrase them here. Title 1 establishes new procedures for applications to the FISA court, attempting to strengthen minimization by making the tangible things requested more specific and narrowed down to eliminate any "collateral" data from being harvested on people unrelated to the investigation. Establishes procedure for the Attorney General to bypass the FISC and make emergency requests, sets strict rules for the timelines that this can be utilized and how information gathered from this protocol can and can't be used. Allows gag orders to be challenged and appealed. Title 2 further attempts to limit the amount of collateral data harvested on innocent people and that privacy measures are in place for U.S. persons (masking and unmasking) Title 3 prevents the use of intelligence collected by an emergency declaration by the AG or DNI in any way in a legal proceeding, unless explicitly shown to be an immediate threat of death or bodily harm. Authorizes the FISC to make the call to allow evidence to be used post-correction. Title 4 is an attempt at transparency of the FISA court legal interpretations that prior to this amendment were essentially an entire body of "secret law" separate from common law. ACLU then sued for all legal interpretations made by the court prior to this amendment. Title 5 addresses "national security letter"(gag order) abuses  Title 6 creates a paper trail of accountability for the FISA court and all things related to the process Title 7 contains the most notable amendment, Section 702, which  expands the definition of "agent of a foreign power" to include a non-U.S. person who: (1) acts in the United States for or on behalf of a foreign power engaged in clandestine intelligence activities in the United States contrary to U.S. interests or as an officer, employee, or member of a foreign power, irrespective of whether the person is inside the United States; or (2) knowingly aids, abets, or conspires with any person engaging in an international proliferation of weapons of mass destruction on behalf of a foreign power or conducting activities in preparation for such proliferation. and establishes protocol for surveillance of a non-U.S. person inside the U.S.