Federal Judge From Maine Appointed To FISA Court

A federal judge in Maine has been appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in Washington, D.C.Supreme Court Justice John Roberts on Wednesday announced the seven-year appointment for U.S. District Court Judge George Z. Singal.The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court considers government requests for electronic surveillance, search warrants and other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes.Most of the court's activities are secret. A report indicates the panel received 1,318 applications for intelligence activities last year. Of those, 985 were approved and 261 were modified. Seventy-two were denied in part or in full.Singal was appointed to the federal bench in 2000 by President Bill Clinton.The naturalized U.S. citizen was born in an Italian refugee camp in 1945 and his family emigrated to Bangor in 1949.