This is exactly how FISA worked from its inception in 1978 to 2001 and the USAPATRIOT Act, when all these legal shenanigans first started. The idea is that whi

This is exactly how FISA worked from its inception in 1978 to 2001 and the USAPATRIOT Act, when all these legal shenanigans first started. The idea is that while the investigation is ongoing, of course it's going to be classified. When the subject is finally arrested and taken to court, or when the investigation was over, then the wire-tapping became unclassified as a matter of governmental record (as it should be imo). What the government has been trying to argue or promote is the idea of a NEVER ENDING investigation, such that from the moment these systems are in place and turned on, subjects are "investigated" probably for the rest of their lives. This is the TIA/Carnivore system that was hastily put aside due to massive public outrage, but the promoters of this new omnipresent surveillance state simply went back and developed their shaky legal framework to justify it instead. Do not believe them, none of this is legal, prudent, or necessary. It exists to create an omnipresent surveillance state in which guilt is assumed and most of us will never be truly free.