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IC ON THE RECORD

 * CY2020 Transparency Report
 * U.S. Person Unmasking Procedures
 * 2019 National Intelligence Strategy
 * IC TRANSPARENCY PLAN




ODNI RELEASES 24TH JOINT ASSESSMENT OF SECTION 702 COMPLIANCE

  December 21, 2022

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), in consultation with
the Department of Justice (DOJ), today released, in redacted form, the 24th
Semiannual Assessment of Compliance with Procedures and Guidelines Issued
Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“Joint
Assessment”), submitted by the Attorney General and the Director of National
Intelligence (DNI).  This Joint Assessment covers the timeframe of 01 December
2019 through 31 May 2020.  The DNI released this semiannual assessment
proactively, in keeping with the Principles of Intelligence Transparency for the
Intelligence Community. 

About the Joint Assessments

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008 requires
the Attorney General and the DNI to assess compliance with Section 702
procedures over each six-month period and to submit their assessments to the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and relevant congressional
committees, which they do in the Joint Assessments.  A joint team of experts
from DOJ and ODNI (the “joint oversight team") conduct these assessments,
evaluating how the agencies responsible for implementing Section 702 (National
Security Agency [NSA], Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], Central
Intelligence Agency [CIA], and National Counterterrorism Center [NCTC])
implement their authority under Section 702.

The Joint Assessments describe the extensive measures the U.S. Government
undertakes to:

 * Ensure compliance with FISC-approved targeting, minimization, and query
   procedures for Section 702;
 * Accurately identify, record, and correct errors;
 * Take responsive actions to remove any erroneously obtained data; and
 * Mitigate the chances that mistakes will recur.

The Joint Assessments provide an overall compliance incident rate that includes
all categories of incidents from all of the agencies responsible for
implementing Section 702.  However, the overall compliance incident rate is an
imperfect proxy insofar as the rate compares the total number of compliance
incidents (regardless of their cause) to the average number of tasked facilities
(which may be unrelated to the number of certain types of compliance incidents,
such as the number of times the acquired data was disseminated or queried
improperly).  The assessment, therefore, also provides additional metrics and
detailed narratives to assess compliance.

Key Findings of the 24th Joint Assessment 

As detailed in the 24th Joint Assessment, the joint oversight team found that
the agencies continued to implement the procedures in a manner that reflected a
focused and concerted effort by Intelligence Community (IC) personnel to comply
with the requirements of Section 702. Nevertheless, a continued focus is needed
to address the underlying causes of the incidents that did occur, especially
those incidents relating to improper queries. The joint oversight team assessed
compliance trends, including compliance incident rates; evaluated the impact of
the types of incidents that occurred; and considered the agencies’ preventive
and remedial compliance actions.

The overall compliance incident rate considers all identified errors (for
targeting, minimization, and querying) of all the agencies implementing Section
702. For this reporting period, the overall compliance incident rate was 0.46
percent, a significant decrease from the immediately preceding period (20.28
percent). However, almost half of this reporting period occurred during the
initial phase of the coronavirus pandemic. While many reviews were conducted
remotely, in the March to May period covered by this report, some onsite reviews
at NSA, CIA, NCTC, and FBI were postponed or suspended. During this reporting
period, the query error rate for FBI was 0.82 percent, a significant decrease
from the prior reporting period (36.59 percent). NSA’s compliance incident rate
for targeting decisions was 0.10 percent for this reporting period compared to
0.14 percent for the prior period. The team is not able to determine the extent
to which a decrease in the total number of identified compliance incidents
reflects a decrease of incidents that occurred during the part of the reporting
period that was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic or whether it was due to
difficulties discovering and reporting compliance incidents as a result of the
team’s inability to consistently conduct onsite reviews during that portion of
the reporting period.

Additional Information

ODNI previously released several joint assessments, which are available on IC on
the Record and Intel.gov.

24th Joint Assessment (dated December 2021): reporting period 01 December 2019
through 31 May 2020

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  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ODNI News Release No. 21-22

December 14, 2022

  Issuance of Intelligence Community Directive 126: Implementation Procedures
for the Signals Intelligence Redress Mechanism under Executive Order 14086

  Today, ODNI released to the public Intelligence Community Directive 126:
Implementation Procedures for the Signals Intelligence Redress Mechanism under
Executive Order 14086. This Directive governs the handling of redress complaints
regarding certain signals intelligence activities, as required by Sections 3(b)
and 3©(i) of Executive Order 14086. It specifies the process by which qualifying
complaints may be transmitted by an appropriate public authority in a qualifying
state pursuant to Executive Order 14086. Additionally, and pursuant to the same
Executive Order, this Directive authorizes and sets forth the process through
which the ODNI Civil Liberties Protection Officer shall investigate, review,
and, as necessary, order appropriate remediation for a covered violation
regarding qualifying complaints; communicate the conclusion of such
investigation to the complainant through the appropriate public authority in a
qualifying state and in a manner that protects classified or otherwise
privileged or protected information; and provide necessary support to the U.S.
Data Protection Review Court.

Additional information may be found at www.dni.gov/clpt.

  ###

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ODNI RELEASES ALL REMAINING FISA DECISIONS DETERMINED TO CONTAIN SIGNIFICANT
CONSTRUCTION OF LAW

 

August 12, 2022

Today, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), in
consultation with the Department of Justice (DOJ), is releasing appropriately
redacted versions of all remaining historical opinions and orders of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court of Review (FISC-R) that have been previously determined to contain
significant constructions of law.

Over the last nine years, the Intelligence Community and DOJ have worked
together to release to the public significant opinions of the FISC and FISC-R.
These efforts resulted in the public release of dozens of court opinions and
orders and thousands of pages of released materials, all of which are available
on Intel.gov and IContheRecord. In 2015, Congress enacted the USA FREEDOM Act,
which requires the Director of National Intelligence to continue to conduct a
declassification review of new opinions or orders of the FISC and FISC-R that
contain “a significant construction or interpretation of any provision of law,”
and “make publicly available to the greatest extent practicable” such opinions
or orders (50 U.S.C. § 1872(a)).

In addition to fully complying with this law, ODNI has responded to Freedom of
Information Act requests and conducted additional proactive disclosures with
respect to FISC and FISC-R opinions that predate the 2015 USA FREEDOM Act. These
efforts focused on opinions and orders issued since 2003 that DOJ identified as
containing a significant interpretation of law and had also already been
provided in classified form to Congress, pursuant to 50 U.S.C. § 1871. As a
result, by January 2018, ODNI had released to the public redacted versions of
all but seven of these significant opinions or orders. See, for example,
releases here and here.

Following an interagency review, and consistent with the Principles of
Intelligence Transparency, ODNI determined that redacted versions of all seven
remaining opinions and orders could be released. The seven opinions or orders
are as follows:

 * Document 1—FISC Title I Primary Order
   This FISC order approved a new, classified foreign intelligence surveillance
   technique targeting a foreign power.
 * Document 2—FISA Title I FISC Supplemental Order
   In this order, the FISC required the DOJ to provide a supplemental briefing
   clarifying the Government’s interpretation of which portion of the multi-part
   definition of “electronic surveillance” the Government assessed applied to a
   classified surveillance technique.
 * Document 3—FISA Title I FISC Memorandum Opinion and Order
   In this opinion and order, the FISC approved a modification to the Federal
   Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) standard minimization procedures to permit
   the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to access an FBI system that
   contained FISA information in a manner consistent with NCTC’s own
   minimization procedures. Unlike the other documents in this release which had
   been previously withheld due to national security concerns, this opinion was
   not previously released due to an administrative error.
 * Document—4 FISA Title I FISC Primary Order and Document 5—FISA Title I FISC
   Amendment to Primary Order
   These are two orders associated with a FISC opinion previously released on 22
   August 2018. Although previously provided to Congress with that opinion, the
   FISC’s significant construction of law was made in the previously released
   opinion, not these orders.
 * Document 6—FISA Title V FISC Supplemental Opinion
   In this supplemental opinion, the FISC determined that International Mobile
   Equipment Identifier numbers and International Mobile Subscriber Identifier
   numbers could be utilized to initiate contact chaining in a previous
   intelligence program involving the collection of call detail records. This
   collection program was terminated after the passage of the USA FREEDOM Act.
 * Document 7—FISA Title V FISC Order
   This FISC order approved the ongoing collection of certain business records
   to protect against international terrorism.

 * 6 months ago
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ODNI RELEASES 23RD JOINT ASSESSMENT OF SECTION 702 COMPLIANCE

July 18, 2022

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), in consultation with
the Department of Justice (DoJ), today released, in redacted form, the 23rd
Semiannual Assessment of Compliance with Procedures and Guidelines Issued
Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“Joint
Assessment”), submitted by the Attorney General and the Director of National
Intelligence (DNI).  This Joint Assessment covers the timeframe of 01 June 2019
through 30 November 2019.  The DNI released this semiannual assessment
proactively, in keeping with the Principles of Intelligence Transparency for the
Intelligence Community. 

About the Joint Assessments

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008 requires
the Attorney General and the DNI to assess compliance with Section 702
procedures over each six-month period and to submit their assessments to the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and relevant congressional
committees, which they do in the Joint Assessments.  A joint team of experts
from DoJ and ODNI (the “joint oversight team") conduct these assessments,
evaluating how the agencies responsible for implementing Section 702 (National
Security Agency [NSA], Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], Central
Intelligence Agency, and National Counterterrorism Center) implement their
authority under Section 702.

The Joint Assessments describe the extensive measures the U.S. Government
undertakes to:

 * Ensure compliance with FISC-approved targeting, minimization, and query
   procedures for Section 702;
 * Accurately identify, record, and correct errors;
 * Take responsive actions to remove any erroneously obtained data; and
 * Mitigate the chances that mistakes will recur.

The Joint Assessments provide an overall compliance incident rate that includes
all categories of incidents from all of the agencies responsible for
implementing Section 702.  However, the overall compliance incident rate is an
imperfect proxy insofar as the rate compares the total number of compliance
incidents (regardless of their cause) to the average number of tasked facilities
(which may be unrelated to the number of certain types of compliance incidents,
such as the number of times the acquired data was disseminated or queried
improperly).  The assessment, therefore, also provides additional metrics and
detailed narratives to assess compliance.

Key Findings of the 23rd Joint Assessment

As detailed in the 23rd Joint Assessment, the joint oversight team found that
the agencies continued to implement the procedures in a manner that reflected a
focused and concerted effort by Intelligence Community (IC) personnel to comply
with the requirements of Section 702.  The team assessed compliance trends,
including compliance incident rates; evaluated the impact of the types of
incidents that occurred; and considered the agencies’ preventive and remedial
compliance actions.

For this reporting period, the overall compliance incident rate was 20.28
percent, a significant increase from the immediately preceding period (6.91
percent) while still remaining below a 2018 high of 33.54 percent.  While the
overall compliance incident rate considers all identified errors (for targeting,
minimization, and querying) of all the agencies implementing Section 702, the
vast majority of compliance incidents during this period continued to be related
to a single type of FBI query error.  The number of these FBI query errors
increased significantly from the previous reporting period, accounting for a
substantial number of compliance incidents.  Specifically, for this reporting
period, the FBI query error rate was 36.59 percent, an increase from the prior
two reporting periods (13.71 in the 22nd Joint Assessment and 23.94 percent in
the 21st Joint Assessment).  These incidents, as well as FBI’s subsequent
remedial measures, are discussed in greater detail later in this assessment.  To
provide insight on targeting compliance, the assessment also included NSA’s
compliance incident rate for targeting decisions, which was 0.14 percent for
this reporting period (compared to 0.15 percent for the prior period).

The FISC discussed certain instances of the FBI’s noncompliant queries in its
2018, 2019, and 2020 Section 702 opinions.  In the 2018 opinion, the FISC found
that the FBI’s querying procedures were not consistent with Section 702 or the
Fourth Amendment in part because they did not require adequate documentation of
justifications for U.S. person queries.  In response to the Court’s opinions,
the FBI made system modifications necessary to meet query recordkeeping and
documentation requirements and provided training on these new modifications. 
The previously released December 2019 and November 2020 FISC opinions discussed
those measures.  While the 23rd Joint Assessment also discussed those measures,
as well as additional remedial measures that the FBI implemented in 2021, the
reporting period covered (and thus the incidents discussed) in the 23rd Joint
Assessment occurred before the FBI implemented those measures.

Additional Information

ODNI previously released several joint assessments, which are available on IC on
the Record and Intel.gov.

23rd Joint Assessment- Dated September 2021: Reporting Period 01 June 2019 – 30
November 2019

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ODNI RELEASES ANNUAL INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY TRANSPARENCY REPORT

April 29, 2022

Today, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released the
Annual Statistical Transparency Report (ASTR) regarding the Intelligence
Community’s (IC) use of National Security Surveillance Authorities for 2021. The
release of the report is consistent with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act of 1978 (FISA), as amended (codified in 50 U.S.C. 1876(b)), and the IC’s
Principles of Intelligence Transparency.

Published every year since 2014, the report provides statistics and context
regarding the government’s use of FISA authorities, National Security Letters,
and other national security authorities. The report also offers insight into the
rigorous oversight framework that spans all three branches of government and
safeguards the privacy and civil liberties of individuals whose information is
acquired in accordance with national security authorities.

“We’re committed to proactively informing the public, who entrusts us to protect
our nation and our civil liberties, on the Intelligence Community’s use of key
national security authorities,” said Ben Huebner, Chief, ODNI Office of Civil
Liberties, Privacy, and Transparency. “In fact, this report exceeds statutory
requirements and provides additional facts and context to enhance public
understanding of our mission and how we accomplish it.”

For additional information on national security authorities, visit www.dni.gov ,
www.intel.gov, and IContheRecord.tumblr.com .

Download: 2022 IC Annual Statistical Transparency Report

 * * #Transparency
   * #ASTR
   * #FISA
   * #Surveillance
   * #Section 702
   * #NSA
   * #FBI
   * #ODNI
 * 10 months ago
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ODNI RELEASES 22ND JOINT ASSESSMENT OF SECTION 702 COMPLIANCE

March 14, 2022

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), in consultation with
the Department of Justice (DoJ), today released, in redacted form, the 22nd
Semiannual Assessment of Compliance with Procedures and Guidelines Issued
Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, submitted
by the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) (“Joint
Assessment”). This Joint Assessment covers the timeframe of 01 December 2018
through 31 May 2019. The DNI released this semiannual assessment proactively, in
keeping with the Principles of Intelligence Transparency for the Intelligence
Community.

About the Assessments

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments of 2008 requires the
Attorney General and the DNI to assess compliance with Section 702 procedures
over each six-month period and to submit their assessments to the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and relevant congressional committees,
which they do in the Joint Assessments. A joint team of experts (the joint
oversight team) from DoJ and ODNI conduct these assessments evaluating how the
agencies responsible for implementing Section 702 (National Security Agency
[NSA], Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], Central Intelligence Agency, and
National Counterterrorism Center) implement their authority under Section 702.

The Joint Assessments describe the extensive measures the U.S. Government
undertakes to:

 * Ensure compliance with FISC-approved targeting, minimization, and query
   procedures for Section 702;
 * Accurately identify, record, and correct errors;
 * Take responsive actions to remove any erroneously obtained data; and
 * Mitigate the chances that mistakes will recur.

The Joint Assessments provide an overall compliance incident rate that includes
all categories of incidents from all of the agencies responsible for
implementing Section 702. However, the overall compliance incident rate is an
imperfect proxy insofar as the rate compares the total number of compliance
incidents (regardless of their cause) to the average number of tasked facilities
(which may be unrelated to the number of certain types of compliance incidents,
such as the number of times the acquired data was disseminated or queried
improperly). The assessment, therefore, also provides additional metrics and
detailed narratives to assess compliance.

Key Findings of the 22nd Joint Assessment

As detailed in the 22nd Joint Assessment, the joint oversight team found that
the agencies continued to implement the procedures in a manner that reflected a
focused and concerted effort by Intelligence Community (IC) personnel to comply
with the requirements of Section 702. The team assessed compliance trends,
including compliance incident rates; evaluated the impact of the types of
incidents that occurred; and considered the agencies’ preventative and remedial
compliance actions.

For this reporting period, the overall compliance incident rate was 6.91
percent, a significant decrease from the prior period (33.54 percent). While the
overall compliance incident rate considers all identified errors (for targeting,
minimization, and querying) of all the agencies implementing Section 702, the
vast majority of compliance incidents were related to a single type of FBI query
error. Although the number of these FBI query errors decreased significantly
from the previous reporting period, they continued to account for a substantial
number of compliance incidents. Specifically, for this reporting period, the FBI
query error rate was 13.71 percent, a decrease from the prior period (23.94
percent). To provide insight on targeting compliance, the assessment also
included NSA’s compliance incident rate for targeting decisions which was 0.15
percent for this reporting period (compared to 0.20 percent for the prior
period).

The FISC discussed certain instances of the FBI’s noncompliant queries in its
2018, 2019, and 2020 Section 702 opinions. In the 2018 opinion, the FISC found
that the FBI’s querying procedures were not consistent with Section 702 or the
Fourth Amendment in part because they did not require adequate documentation of
justifications for U.S. person queries. In response to the Court’s opinions, the
FBI made system modifications necessary to meet query recordkeeping and
documentation requirements and provided training on these new modifications. The
previously released December 2019 and November 2020 FISC opinions discussed
those measures. While the 22nd Joint Assessment also discussed those measures,
as well as additional remedial measures that the FBI implemented in 2021, the
reporting period covered (and hence the incidents discussed) in the 22nd Joint
Assessment occurred before the FBI implemented those measures.

Additional Information

The ODNI has previously released a number of prior joint assessments, which may
be found on IC on the Record and Intel.gov.

Below is today’s release, in redacted form:

22nd Joint Assessment (dated August 2021): reporting period December 1, 2018 -
May 31, 2019

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RELEASE OF THE 21ST JOINT ASSESSMENT OF SECTION 702 COMPLIANCE


August 10, 2021

Today, the DNI, in consultation with the Department of Justice, is releasing in
redacted form the 21st Semiannual Assessment of Compliance with Procedures and
Guidelines Issued Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, Submitted by the then Attorney General and the Director of
National Intelligence (“Joint Assessment”). This Joint Assessment covers the
timeframe of June 1, 2018, through November 30, 2018. The DNI is releasing this
semiannual assessment proactively, in keeping with the Principles of
Intelligence Transparency for the Intelligence Community.

The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which was in effect during the reporting period
for this 21st Joint Assessment, required the Attorney General and the DNI to
assess compliance with Section 702 procedures over each six-month period and to
submit such assessments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)
and relevant congressional committees. A joint team of experts (the Joint
Oversight Team) from DOJ and ODNI conduct these assessments.

The Joint Assessments describe the measures the Government undertakes to ensure
compliance with FISC-approved targeting, minimization, and querying procedures
for Section 702; to accurately identify, record and correct errors; to take
responsive actions to remove any erroneously obtained data; and to minimize the
chances that mistakes will recur. As was the case in past Joint Assessments, the
Joint Oversight Team found in the 21st Joint Assessment that the agencies
continued to implement the procedures in a manner that reflected a focused and
concerted effort by Intelligence Community (IC) personnel to comply with the
requirements of Section 702.

As with prior semiannual assessments, this assessment provides an overall
compliance incident rate that includes all categories of incidents from all of
the agencies responsible for implementing Section 702. However, as previously
explained, the overall compliance incident rate remains an imperfect proxy
insofar as the rate compares the total number of compliance incidents
(regardless of their cause) to the average number of tasked facilities (which
may be unrelated to the number of certain types of compliance incidents, such as
the number of times the acquired data was disseminated or queried improperly).

The imperfections of this rate are particularly evident in this reporting
period’s rate of 33.54%, which was significantly impacted by a single type of
incident (batch queries), and in particular one incident conducted by a single
individual. When these improper queries are excluded from the compliance
incident rate, the overall rate is generally consistent with the rates reported
in previous periods.  To better promote oversight and inform the public’s
understanding of compliance trends and their potential to affect privacy and
civil liberties, this assessment therefore also includes narrative descriptions
of the types of compliance incidents that occurred and provides an additional
metric that is specific to the compliance incident rate for NSA targeting
decisions, which was 0.20% [1] for this reporting period.

For this joint assessment, FBI’s query compliance incident rate was largely the
consequence of a single batch query that did not meet the appropriate standard
and included more than 100,000 queries, each of which constituted a separate
incident. That batch query resulted in about 97% of the total IC-wide compliance
incidents identified by NSD’s sampling and oversight. It is worth noting that
none of those queries actually returned any Section 702 collection. A second
incident involving another batch query resulted in just under 2,000 improper
queries. Together, the two incidents made up almost 99% of the IC’s compliance
incidents and resulted in the significant increase in the overall compliance
incident rate, as noted above.

The period covered by this 21st Joint Assessment, during which these incidents
occurred, preceded the FBI’s implementation of remedial actions taken within the
past few years to enhance compliance with the applicable query standard. In its
2018, 2019, and 2020 Section 702 opinions addressing the Government’s annual
certification of its Section 702 program, the FISC discussed certain FBI query
compliance incidents. In its 2018 Section 702 opinion addressing the
Government’s annual certification of its Section 702 program, which followed the
period covered by this 21st Joint Assessment, the FISC found that the FBI’s
querying procedures were not consistent with Section 702 or the Fourth Amendment
in part because they did not require adequate documentation of justifications
for U.S. person queries. In response to the Court’s opinion, as well as opinions
in 2019 and 2020, the FBI made system modifications necessary to meet query
recordkeeping and documentation requirements and provided training on these new
modifications. The previously released December 2019 and November 2020 FISC
opinions discuss the measures FBI has taken to address the query compliance
issues.

ODNI has previously released a number of prior joint assessments, which may be
found on IC on the Record and Intel.gov.

Below is today’s release, in redacted form:

21st Joint Assessment (dated March 2021): reporting period June 1, 2018-November
30, 2018

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Zoom Info
Zoom Info


PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT: UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA

June 25, 2021

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence submitted to Congress a
preliminary report regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) that relays the
progress the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force has made in understanding
UAP.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Download the report

 * * #uap
   * #uap report
   * #declassified
   * #odni
   * #transparency
 * 1 year ago
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ODNI RELEASES ANNUAL INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY TRANSPARENCY REPORT  

April 30, 2021

Today, consistent with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA),
as amended (codified in 50 U.S.C. § 1873(b)), and the Intelligence Community’s
(IC) Principles of Intelligence Transparency , ODNI is releasing the eighth
annual Statistical Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security
Surveillance Authorities.

This report provides the public not only statistics, but also contextual
information, regarding the scope of the government’s use of FISA authorities,
National Security Letters, and other national security authorities.  In
conjunction with other publicly released material, this report adds insight into
the rigorous and multi-layered oversight framework governing the IC that
safeguards the privacy and civil liberties of United States (U.S.) person and
non-U.S. person information acquired pursuant to these national security
authorities.

“We are pleased to publish ODNI’s eighth annual statistical transparency
report,” said Ben Huebner, Chief, ODNI Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy, and
Transparency. “The Intelligence Community remains committed to providing the
public with information regarding how important national security authorities
are used in practice.  The information in today’s report will help foster
continued public dialogue regarding how the Intelligence Community protects
national security, our privacy, and our liberty.”

Additional public information on national security authorities is available at
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) website,
www.dni.gov and the Intelligence Community’s public website, www.intel.gov.

 * 1 year ago
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RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE 2020 FISA SECTION 702 CERTIFICATIONS

April 26, 2021

Today the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with
the Department of Justice, releases documents related to the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court’s (FISC) approval of the 2020 Certifications
under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). 

On November 18, 2020, the FISC issued a classified Memorandum Opinion and
Order approving the 2020 Certifications and the associated targeting,
minimization, and querying procedures (linked below). In the Memorandum Opinion,
the Court examined the proposed procedures, both as written and in the context
of how prior procedures had been implemented by the government, and found that
the proposed procedures satisfy the requirements of FISA and the Fourth
Amendment. 

One focus of the November 2020 opinion was on the Federal Bureau of
Investigation’s (FBI) queries of unminimized Section 702-acquired information.
The Court took note that since its most recent opinion on Section 702, FBI had
implemented system changes to comply with recordkeeping and documentation
requirements for such queries and had deployed mandatory training for all FBI
personnel with access to unminimized Section 702-aquired information. The Court,
however, stated it “continues to be concerned about FBI querying practices
involving U.S.-person query terms, including (1) application of the substantive
standard for conducting queries; (2) queries that are designed to retrieve
evidence of crime that is not foreign-intelligence information; and (3)
recordkeeping and documentation requirements.” See p. 39. The Court examined
specific compliance incidents (see pp. 39 – 44) and evaluated the manner in
which FBI implemented various changes to systems (see pp. 44 – 52). The Court
noted that a majority of these query incidents occurred prior to FBI
implementing system changes and deploying mandatory training intended to address
these compliance matters, and that the COVID-19 pandemic had subsequently
severely limited the ability of the government to monitor the FBI’s compliance
once these system and training changes had been put in place.  See pp. 41, 43,
49-50.  As a result, the Court concluded that the improper queries do not
undermine the Court’s determination that FBI’s querying and minimization
procedures meet the applicable statutory and Fourth Amendment requirements, but
stated that it would “continue to closely monitor the government’s reporting in
order to evaluate whether the querying procedures are being implemented in a
manner consistent with the statute and the Fourth Amendment.”  See pp. 41, 44,
and 49-50.  The Court also imposed new reporting obligations on the government
to facilitate its oversight.  See pp. 51, 63, and 66.

In addition to releasing the FISC opinion, ODNI is releasing the targeting,
minimization, and querying procedures filed with the 2020 Certifications.  Links
to these documents are provided below.  The documents are also posted in
full-text searchable format on Intel.gov.

 * FISC’s November 2020 Opinion


2020 TARGETING PROCEDURES

(released pursuant to the IC’s Principles of Transparency)

 * FBI’s 2020 § 702 Targeting Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020
 * NSA’s 2020 § 702 Targeting Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020


2020 MINIMIZATION AND QUERYING PROCEDURES

(released pursuant to 50 U.S.C. § 1881a(e))




 * CIA’s 2020 § 702 Minimization Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020
 * FBI’s 2020 § 702 Minimization Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020
 * NCTC’s 2020 § 702 Minimization Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020
 * NSA’s 2020 § 702 Minimization Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020


2020 QUERYING PROCEDURES

(released pursuant to the IC’s Principles of Transparency)

 * CIA’s 2020 § 702 Querying Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020
 * FBI’s 2020 § 702 Querying Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020
 * NCTC’s 2020 § 702 Querying Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020
 * NSA’s 2020 § 702 Querying Procedures court stamped October 19, 2020


Background on Section 702

Section 702 was enacted as part of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA) and
most recently reauthorized by the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017.
Section 702 permits the Attorney General and the DNI to jointly authorize,
through certifications, the targeting of (i) non-U.S. persons (ii) who are
reasonably believed to be located outside the United States (iii) to acquire
foreign intelligence information. These certifications are accompanied by
targeting procedures, minimization procedures, and querying procedures that are
each designed to ensure that the Government’s collection is appropriately
targeted against non-United States persons located overseas who may possess or
are likely to communicate foreign intelligence information and that any such
collection is appropriately handled in a manner that protects privacy and civil
liberties.

Under Section 702, the FISC reviews the certifications and accompanying
documents to ensure that they meet all the requirements of Section 702 and are
consistent with the Fourth Amendment. The Court’s review is not limited to the
procedures as written, but also includes an examination of how the procedures
have been and will be implemented. Accordingly, as part of its review, the FISC
considers the compliance incidents reported to it by the Government through
notices and reports.

For additional background information, please refer to the 2020 Statistical
Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security Authorities for
CY2019 posted on Intel.gov and IC on the Record.

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