Explaining the details of the Patriot Act in a New Yorker article on November 5, 2001, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin wrote: ” ‘…there is a lower standard to getting FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] taps. You don’t have to show probable cause; you basically just have to ask for them. And, unlike a law enforcement tap, the government never has to tell the subject that they’ve done it. If the government thinks you’re under the control of a foreign government, they can wiretap you and never tell you, search your house and never tell you, break into your home, copy your hard drive, and never tell you they’ve done it.’ ”
– Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke, America Alone, Page 288