With all the discussion of the FISA warrants, we must avoid missing the forest for the trees.  Since the release last Saturday of the (highly redacted) FISA application that targeted Carter Page, and the subsequent three renewal applications, there has been no lack of analysis of the unredacted details.  (Mark Penn's analysis is, for my money, one of the most cogent.)  In what follows, I intend to take more of a "big picture" approach, as well as focusing on issues that haven't received a great deal of attention but may in the future. One aspect of the application that came as no surprise to all who have followed this FISA-gate affair is that the role of the "dossier" – the collaborative effort produced by the British ex-spook Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS (Glenn Simpson, Nellie Ohr, and possibly others), and the Hillary campaign – is everywhere apparent.  While the central role of the dossier...(Read Full Article)