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Statistical Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security Authorities

April 30, 2016

Annual Statistics for Calendar Year 2015 regarding Use of Certain National Security Legal Authorities.

In June 2013, President Obama directed the Intelligence Community (IC) to declassify and make public 

as much information as possible about certain sensitive U.S. government surveillance programs while 

protecting sensitive classified intelligence and national security information. Since then, the Director of 

National Intelligence (DNI) has declassified and authorized the public release of thousands of pages of 

documents relating to the use of critical national security authorities, including the Foreign Intelligence 

Surveillance Act (FISA). In addition to declassifying and publicly releasing these documents, the 

Intelligence Community has published several reports regarding these authorities, including the 

Statistical Transparency Report Regarding use of National Security Authorities (hereafter the DNI’s 

annual transparency report), presenting metrics related to the use of certain authorities for calendar 

years 2013 and 2014. 

On June 2, 2015, the USA FREEDOM Act was enacted, codifying many of the statistics reported in the 

DNI’s annual transparency reports. The Act also expanded the scope of the information included in the 

reports by requiring the DNI to report information concerning United States person search terms and 

queries of certain unminimized, FISA-acquired information, as well as information concerning unique 

identifiers used to communicate information collected pursuant to certain FISA orders.1 The IC 

implemented the USA Freedom Act on November 30, 2015.2

Today, consistent with the USA FREEDOM Act and the IC’s Principles of Intelligence Transparency, we are 

releasing our third annual transparency report presenting statistics on how often the government uses 

certain national security authorities. The DNI has declassified and directed the release of the applicable 

statistics covering calendar year 2015. 

This information is available at the website of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI); 

and ODNI’s public website dedicated to fostering greater public visibility into the intelligence activities of 

the United States government, icontheRecord.tumblr.com. 

It is important to provide some additional context to the numbers included in this report: 

 Types of Orders. There are several different types of orders that the Foreign Intelligence 

Surveillance Court (FISC) may issue in connection with FISA cases: orders granting or modifying 

the government’s authority to conduct intelligence collection; orders directing electronic 

communication service providers to provide any technical assistance necessary to implement 

the authorized intelligence collection; supplemental orders and briefing orders requiring the 

government to take a particular action or provide the court with specific information; and so on. 

Under Section 702, rather than issuing an individual order authorizing the government to target 

each non-U.S. person reasonably believed to be located outside the United States who 

possesses, or who is likely to communicate or receive, foreign intelligence information, the FISC 

 

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See 50 U.S.C. § 1873(b). 

2 Although the USA FREEDOM Act was not implemented until November 30, 2015, the metrics provided in this 

report represent the full 2015 calendar year except where otherwise stated.
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issues a single order3 approving certifications that describe categories of foreign intelligence 

information to be acquired through the targeting of non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be 

located outside the United States. 

Unless otherwise indicated, only the orders granting authority to conduct intelligence collection

under the applicable FISA section are counted in this report; the other types of orders (e.g., 

modification orders) are not included. 

 Amendments and Renewals. The FISC may amend an order one or more times after it has been 

issued. For example, an order may be amended to add a newly discovered account used by the 

target. This report does not count such amendments separately. 

Moreover, some orders may be renewed multiple times during the calendar year (e.g., the FISA 

statute provides that a Section 704 FISA order against a U.S. person target may last no longer 

than 90 days but permits the order to be renewed). Unlike amendments, this report does count 

each such renewal as a separate order.

 Targets. Within the IC, the term “target” has multiple meanings. With respect to the statistics 

provided in this report, the term “target” is defined as the individual person, group, entity 

comprised of multiple individuals, or foreign power that uses the selector, such as a telephone 

number or email address. If a target were known to use four different selectors, the IC would 

count one target, not four. Alternatively, if four targets were known to use a one selector, the 

IC would count four targets. 

The term “target” can also be used as a verb. Under Section 702, for example, the IC “targets” a 

particular non-U.S. person, group, or entity reasonably believed to be located outside the United 

States and who possesses, or who is likely to communicate or receive, foreign intelligence 

information, by “tasking” selectors that are assessed to be used by such non-U.S. person, group 

or entity, pursuant to targeting procedures approved by the FISC. 

The number of 702 “targets” reflects an estimate of the number of known users of tasked 

selectors. This estimate is based on the information readily available to the IC. Unless and until 

the IC has information that links multiple selectors to a single foreign intelligence target, each 

individual selector is counted as being associated with a separate target in this report. On the 

other hand, where the IC is aware that multiple selectors are used by the same target, the IC 

counts the user of those selectors as a single target. This method of estimating helps ensure 

that the IC does not inadvertently understate the number of discrete persons targeted pursuant 

to Section 702.

 Title V of FISA. The IC implemented the USA FREEDOM Act’s Title V provisions on November 30, 

2015, resulting in one additional month’s worth of data for calendar year 2015. Because 

statistical information tied to a particular FISA authority for a particular month remains 

 

3 Note that, in its own transparency report, which is also required pursuant to Sec. 603 of the USA FREEDOM Act, 

the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) counted each Section 702 

certification as being associated with its own order. Because the number of the government’s Section 702 

certifications remains a classified fact, the government requested that the AOUSC redact the number of 

certifications and the number of modified orders from its transparency report prior to publicly releasing it.
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classified, Title V data specifically associated with December 2015 – i.e., the information 

required under Section 603 (b)(4)(A) and (B) and 603 (b)(5)(A), (B) and (C) – is included only in 

the classified annex to this report that has been provided to Congress.

 U.S. Persons. In calculating the metrics in this report, the IC applied the broader definition of 

the term “U.S. Person” used in FISA, rather than USA FREEDOM Act’s narrower “U.S. Person” 

definition. Section 603(e)(4) of the USA FREEDOM Act defines “U.S. Person” as “a citizen of the 

United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence (as defined in section 

101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a))).” This definition is narrower 

than FISA’s, which defines “U.S. Person” as a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully 

admitted for permanent residence (as defined in section 101(a)(20) of the Immigration and 

Nationality Act), an unincorporated association a substantial number of members of which are 

citizens of the United States or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, or a 

corporation which is incorporated in the United States, but does not include a corporation or an 

association which is a foreign power, as defined in 50 U.S.C. § 1801(a)(1), (2), or (3). Because the 

broader FISA definition is the one that governs how U.S. person queries are conducted pursuant 

to the relevant minimization procedures, it also governs how those queries are counted. It is not 

possible to isolate U.S. person search terms that only meet the USA FREEDOM Act’s narrower 

definition.

 “Unique identifiers used to communicate information collected pursuant to such orders.” This 

language describes metrics included in the Title IV (PR/TT) portion of the report and in the Title 

V information covered in the classified annex to the report. The House Report on the USA 

FREEDOM Act states that "[t]he phrase 'unique identifiers used to communicate information 

collected pursuant to such orders' means the total number of, for example, email addresses or 

phone numbers that have been collected as a result of these particular types of FISA orders--not 

just the number of target email addresses or phone numbers." H. Rept. 114-109 Part I. 

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Titles I and III and Sections 703 and 704 of FISA

Total number of orders 1,585

Estimated number of targets of such orders 1,695

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Section 702 of FISA

Total number of orders 1

Estimated number of targets of such orders 94,368

Estimated number of search terms concerning a known U.S. person used to retrieve 

the unminimized contents of communications obtained under Section 702 (excluding 

search terms used to prevent the return of U.S. person information) a

4,672b

Estimated number of queries concerning a known U.S. person of unminimized 

noncontents information obtained under Section 702 (excluding queries containing 

information used to prevent the return of U.S. person information)c

23,800d

a. Pursuant to 50 U.S.C. § 1873(d)(2)(A), this metric does not apply to queries conducted by the FBI. 

b. This metric includes some duplicative or recurring queries conducted using the same term.

c. Pursuant to 50 U.S.C. § 1873(d)(2)(A), this metric does not apply to queries conducted by the FBI.

d. One IC element is currently not able to provide this information. See the DNI’s certification as to the 

estimated number of queries concerning a known U.S. person of unminimized noncontents 

information obtained under Section 702.

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RESPONSE TO PCLOB RECOMMENDATION 9(5)

In response to Recommendation 9(5) of the Report on the Surveillance Program Operated Pursuant to 

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, prepared by the Privacy and Civil Liberties 

Oversight Board, the National Security Agency (NSA) provides the following additional information 

regarding the dissemination of Section 702 intelligence reports that contain U.S. person information.

Section 702 only permits the targeting of non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside 

the United States to acquire foreign intelligence information. Such targets, however, may on occasion 

communicate information of or about U.S. persons. Where appropriate, NSA may disseminate such 

information concerning U.S. persons. NSA only generates signals intelligence reports in response to a 

specific intelligence requirement, regardless of whether the proposed report contains U.S. person 

information. NSA’s minimization procedures expressly prohibit dissemination of information about U.S. 

persons in any NSA report unless that information is necessary to understand foreign intelligence 

information or assess its importance, contains evidence of a crime, or indicates a threat of death or 

serious bodily injury. Even if one of these conditions applies, NSA often will mask the information and 

will, under any circumstance, include no more than the minimum amount of U.S. person information 

necessary to understand the foreign intelligence or to describe the crime or threat. In certain instances, 

however, NSA makes a determination prior to releasing its original report that the U.S. person’s identity 

is appropriate to disseminate in the first instance using the same standards discussed above. In 2015, 

NSA disseminated 4,290 FAA Section 702 intelligence reports that included U.S. person information. Of 

those 4,290 reports, the U.S. person information was masked in 3,168 reports and unmasked in 1,122

reports.

Recipients of NSA reporting can request that NSA provide the true identity of a masked U.S. person 

referenced in an intelligence report, but this information is released only if the recipient has a legitimate 

need to know the identity and dissemination of the U.S. person’s identity has been determined to be 

necessary to understand foreign intelligence information or assess its importance, contains evidence of 

a crime, or indicates a threat of death or serious bodily injury. Under NSA policy, NSA is allowed to 

unmask the identity for the specific requesting recipient only under certain conditions and where 

specific additional controls are in place to preclude its further dissemination, and additional approval 

has been provided by a designated NSA official. In 2015, NSA released 654 U.S. person identities in 

response to such requests.

Finally, as part of their regular oversight reviews, the Department of Justice and the Office of the 

Director of National Intelligence review disseminations of information about U.S. persons that NSA 

obtained pursuant to Section 702 to ensure that the disseminations were performed in compliance with 

the minimization procedures. For additional information, see page 7 of the NSA Director of Civil 

Liberties and Privacy Office Report, NSA’s Implementation of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 

Section 702.
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Title IV of FISA

PR/TT FISA

Total number of orders 90

Estimated number of targets of such orders 456

Estimated number of unique identifiers used to communicate information 

collected pursuant to such ordersa

134,987b

a. Pursuant to Section 1873(d)(2)(B), this metric does not apply to orders resulting in the 

acquisition of information by the FBI that does not include electronic mail addresses or 

telephone numbers.

b. This number represents information the government received from provider(s) electronically for 

the entire 2015 calendar year. The government does not have a process for capturing unique 

identifiers received by other means (such as hard-copy or portable media).

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Title V of FISA

Annual number of approved applications 142a

The number of individuals, entities, groups, or foreign powers subject to a 

business records application to obtain information about a specific subject 134

The number of selectors approved by the FISC to be queried either under the 

NSA telephony metadata program or by NSA under Section 501(b)(2)(C) of the 

USA FREEDOM Act

56b

The number of known or presumed U.S. persons who were the subject of 

queries of information collected in bulk prior to the effective date of the 

business record provisions of the USA FREEDOM Act, or who were subject to a 

business records application at any point in 2015

183c

a. This metric consists of the total number of approved applications, or orders issued, prior to the 

effective date of the business records provisions of the USA FREEDOM Act, as well as the 

approved applications, or orders issued, under Sections 501(b)(2)(B) and 501(b)(2)(C), as 

required by Section 603(b)(4) and 603(b)(5) of the USA FREEDOM Act.

b. This metric reflects the number of selectors approved by the FISC as meeting the reasonable 

articulable suspicion standard.

c. This metric includes some duplicative or recurring queries conducted using the same identifier. 

There may also be some duplication to the extent that some of the U.S. persons who were the 

subject of queries of information collected in bulk were also subject to a business records 

application.

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National Security Letters (NSLs)a

Annual number of NSLs issued 12,870

Annual number of Requests for Information (ROI)b 48,642

a. On April 29, 2016, the Department of Justice released its Annual Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 

Act Report to Congress. That report is available [here].

b. For example: one NSL seeking subscriber information from one provider may identify three e-mail 

addresses, all of which are relevant to the same pending investigation; each is considered a separate 

“request.” 

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