A secretive federal court in Washington on Friday appointed David Kris, a former Obama-era national security leader at the Justice Department, to review changes the FBI has proposed to its surveillance application process in the aftermath of an inspector general report that exposed misconduct in the bureau's handling of applications related to the monitoring of a Trump campaign adviser.

Kris, a Justice Department veteran who served under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, was selected from among five amicus counsel who are occasionally called on to advance privacy and other interests as a potential check against the government in proceedings at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Now a founding partner at the Seattle-based firm Culpepper Partners, Kris in 2006 publicly criticized the George W. Bush administration's legal justifications for warrantless domestic wiretapping. At the time, Kris was an in-house lawyer at Time Warner Inc.

Kris' latest assignment on the FISA court came as the Justice Department submitted a brief and declaration from FBI Director Christopher Wray that detailed planned overhauls—including additional oversight, new training and "enhanced communication"—to ensure the accuracy and fairness of future surveillance applications.

In a report last month, the Justice Department's inspector general documented numerous examples of misconduct in the FBI's preparation of applications to wiretap the former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. The inspector general, Michael Horowitz, found the FBI withheld exculpatory information about Page and made misleading statements about his past relationship with a U.S. government agency, detailing 17 omissions and significant errors in surveillance applications.

In the immediate aftermath of the report, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia, then the presiding judge of the surveillance court, rebuked the FBI's conduct as "antithetical to the heightened duty of candor" required in the surveillance application. Collyer ordered the Justice Department to provide the court, by Friday, an outline about what steps have been taken, and will be taken, to ensure filings with the surveillance court are complete and accurate.

In January, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia succeeded Collyer, who stepped down as the surveillance court's presiding judge nine weeks earlier than expected for health reasons. Boasberg's appointment of Kris marked one of his first moves as the surveillance court's presiding judge.

Chris Wray Christopher Wray testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing in 2017. Photo: Diego M.

In the submission Friday, Wray outlined reforms designed to bring added accountability to the surveillance application process, and more broadly to how federal agents conduct national security investigations.

"The FBI has the utmost respect for this court, and deeply regrets the errors and omissions identified by the [Justice Department inspector general]," Wray wrote. The inspector's report, he said, described conduct "that is unacceptable and unrepresentative of the FBI as an institution.

"FISA is an indispensable tool in national security investigations, and in recognition of our duty of candor to the court and our responsibilities to the American people, the FBI is committed to working with the court and DOJ to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the FISA process," he wrote.

Among other steps, Wray said the bureau would begin teaching a "case study" based on the Justice Department inspector general's findings and develop new training to ensure the surveillance court is "apprised of all information in the FBI's holdings at the time of an application that would be relevant to a determination of probable cause."

"Critically, the FBI must also balance the implementation of these actions with its ongoing responsibility to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States, during a time of ever-present threats to our national security," Wray said. "The leadership of the FBI has devoted—and will continue to devote—a substantial amount of time, thought and effort to striking this balance, while paying scrupulous attention to its duty of candor to the court and maintaining the trust of the American people."

Read the Justice Department's Jan. 10 filing in the FISA court below:

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