Barr tightens rules on surveillance of candidates

Decision is part of broader changes to FBI’s surveillance procedures

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced new restrictions Tuesday for conducting any national security surveillance of candidates for federal office or their staff members and advisers.

The restrictions, announced by Attorney General William Barr in a pair of memos, are part of broader changes to the FBI’s surveillance procedures implemented in response to problems during the 2016 investigation into ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign.

Coming just two months before the presidential election, the changes are designed to ensure that law enforcement officials have to clear additional hurdles before pursuing the same type of surveillance as was conducted four years ago on a former adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Barr is acting on an issue that has provoked loud concerns from Trump’s allies, who have seized on errors in the surveillance process to attack the underpinnings of the Russia probe even as reports from the Justice Department’s watchdog and the Senate intelligence committee have laid out extensive contacts between Russia and Trump associates during the 2016 presidential contest.

The policy changes concern how the FBI goes about seeking permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court when it wants to eavesdrop on someone it suspects of being an agent of a foreign power, such as a potential spy or terrorist. FBI Director Chris Wray has ordered more than 40 corrective actions after the Justice Department inspector general found major errors and omissions in surveillance applications targeting a former Trump aide during the Russia probe.

One new restriction outlined Tuesday would require the FBI to consider briefing a federal candidate or staffer that the person is possibly being targeted by a foreign power before applying for a warrant from the court to wiretap their communications.

Under the policy, no application for surveillance of a candidate or staffer may be submitted unless the FBI director has decided that a defensive briefing is not appropriate and has said so in writing. Applications must also be approved by the attorney general and must include a “full and complete statement as to whether other less intrusive investigative measures have been tried and failed.”