If the United States were still under the rule of law..
This would actually be pretty cut and dried.
I’ve avoided actually looking into this because I figured like most laws USC Title 50, Chapter 36, Subchapter I–Electronic Surveillance would be a hodgepodge of ambiguous legal gobbledygook. Silly me. It turns out that the pertinent sections are actually pretty straight-forward:
From the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
§ 1809. Criminal sanctions
(a) Prohibited activities
A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally—(1) engages in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized by statute; or
(2) discloses or uses information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through electronic surveillance not authorized by statute.
(b) Defense
It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection (a) of this section that the defendant was a law enforcement or investigative officer engaged in the course of his official duties and the electronic surveillance was authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant or court order of a court of competent jurisdiction.(c) Penalties
An offense described in this section is punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.(d) Federal jurisdiction
There is Federal jurisdiction over an offense under this section if the person committing the offense was an officer or employee of the United States at the time the offense was committed.
And
§ 1811. Authorization during time of war
Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for a period not to exceed fifteen calendar days following a declaration of war by the Congress.
As I said, if the United States were still under the rule of law..
