II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1621 

To enhance transparency for certain surveillance programs authorized by 

the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 30, 2013 

Mr. FRANKEN (for himself and Mr. HELLER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To enhance transparency for certain surveillance programs 

authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 

of 1978 and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Surveillance Trans5 parency Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ENHANCED PUBLIC REPORTING FOR ORDERS 

7 UNDER THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SUR8 VEILLANCE ACT OF 1978. 

9 (a) ENHANCED REPORTING FOR ELECTRONIC SUR10 VEILLANCE ORDERS.—Section 107 of the Foreign IntelVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:55 Nov 02, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1621.IS S1621

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1 ligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1807) is 

2 amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 107. REPORT OF ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In April of each year, the Attor5 ney General shall transmit to the Administrative Office 

6 of the United States Court and to Congress a report set7 ting forth with respect to the preceding calendar year— 

8 ‘‘(1) the total number of applications made for 

9 orders and extensions of orders approving electronic 

10 surveillance under this title; 

11 ‘‘(2) the total number of such orders and exten12 sions either granted, modified, or denied; 

13 ‘‘(3) the total number of individuals who were 

14 subject to electronic surveillance conducted under an 

15 order entered under this title, provided that if this 

16 number is fewer than 500, it shall exclusively be ex17 pressed as a numerical range of ‘fewer than 500’ 

18 and shall not be expressed as an individual number; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(4) the total number of citizens of the United 

21 States and aliens lawfully admitted for permanent 

22 residence (as defined in section 101(a)(20) of the 

23 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

24 1101(a)(20))) who were subject to electronic surveil25 lance conducted under an order entered under this 


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1 title, provided that if this number is fewer than 500, 

2 it shall exclusively be expressed as a numerical range 

3 of ‘fewer than 500’ and shall not be expressed as an 

4 individual number. 

5 ‘‘(b) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report required by 

6 this section shall be submitted in unclassified form and 

7 shall be made available to the public 7 days after the date 

8 such report is submitted to Congress.’’. 

9 (b) ENHANCED REPORTING FOR PEN REGISTERS

10 AND TRAP AND TRACE DEVICES.—Section 406 of the 

11 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 

12 1846) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT ON USE OF PEN REGISTER

14 AND TRAP AND TRACE DEVICES.— 

15 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT.—Except as 

16 provided in paragraph (2), in April of each year, the 

17 Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report 

18 setting forth with respect to the preceding year— 

19 ‘‘(A) the total number of applications made 

20 for orders approving the use of a pen register 

21 and trap and trace devices under this title; 

22 ‘‘(B) the total number of such orders ei23 ther granted, modified, or denied; 

24 ‘‘(C) a good faith estimate of the total 

25 number of individual persons whose electronic 


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1 or wire communications information was ob2 tained through the use of pen register or trap 

3 and trace devices authorized under an order en4 tered under this title; 

5 ‘‘(D) good faith estimates of the total 

6 numbers of United States persons— 

7 ‘‘(i) whose electronic or wire commu8 nications information was obtained 

9 through the use of pen register or trap and 

10 trace devices authorized under an order en11 tered under this title; 

12 ‘‘(ii) whose electronic communications 

13 information was obtained through the use 

14 of pen register or trap and trace devices 

15 authorized under an order entered under 

16 this title, and the number of such persons 

17 whose information was subsequently re18 viewed or accessed by a Federal officer, 

19 employee, or agent; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) whose wire communications in21 formation was obtained through the use of 

22 pen register or trap and trace devices au23 thorized under an order entered under this 

24 title, and the number of such persons 

25 whose information was subsequently reVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:55 Nov 02, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1621.IS S1621

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1 viewed or accessed by a Federal officer, 

2 employee, or agent; and 

3 ‘‘(E) the total number of computer-assisted 

4 search queries initiated by a Federal officer, 

5 employee, or agent in any database of electronic 

6 or wire communications information obtained 

7 through the use of a pen register or trap and 

8 trace device authorized under an order entered 

9 under this title, and the number of such queries 

10 whose search terms included information from 

11 the electronic or wire communications informa12 tion of a United States person. 

13 ‘‘(2) STATEMENT OF NUMERICAL RANGE.—If 

14 an estimate specified in subparagraphs (C) or (D) of 

15 paragraph (1) is fewer than 500, it shall exclusively 

16 be expressed as a numerical range of ‘fewer than 

17 500’ and shall not be expressed as an individual 

18 number. 

19 ‘‘(3) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report under 

20 this section shall be submitted in unclassified form 

21 and shall be made available to the public 7 days 

22 after the date such report is submitted to Congress. 

23 ‘‘(4) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sub24 section shall be construed to authorize or in any 

25 other way affect the lawfulness or unlawfulness of 


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1 installing or using a pen register or trap and trace 

2 device. 

3 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

4 ‘‘(A) ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND

5 WIRE COMMUNICATION.—The terms ‘electronic 

6 communication’ and ‘wire communication’ have 

7 the meanings given those terms in section 2510 

8 of title 18, United States Code. 

9 ‘‘(B) INDIVIDUAL PERSON.—The term ‘in10 dividual person’ means any individual and ex11 cludes any group, entity, association, corpora12 tion, or governmental entity. 

13 ‘‘(C) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

14 ‘United States person’ means a citizen of the 

15 United States or an alien lawfully admitted for 

16 permanent residence (as defined in section 

17 101(a)(20) of the Immigration and Nationality 

18 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20))).’’. 

19 (c) ENHANCED REPORTING FOR BUSINESS RECORDS

20 REQUESTS.—Section 502 of the Foreign Intelligence Sur21 veillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1862) is amended— 

22 (1) in subsection (b)(3), by adding at the end 

23 the following: 

24 ‘‘(F) Records concerning electronic communica25 tions. 


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1 ‘‘(G) Records concerning wire communications. 

2 ‘‘(H) Information described in subparagraph 

3 (A), (B), (D), (E), or (F) of section 2703(c)(2) of 

4 title 18, United States Code.’’; and 

5 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT ON SECTION 501 ORDERS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT.—Except as 

9 provided in paragraph (2), in April of each year, the 

10 Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report 

11 setting forth with respect to the preceding year— 

12 ‘‘(A) the total number of applications made 

13 for orders approving requests for the production 

14 of tangible things under section 501; 

15 ‘‘(B) the total number of such orders ei16 ther granted, modified, or denied; 

17 ‘‘(C) a good faith estimate of the total 

18 number of individual persons whose tangible 

19 things were produced under an order entered 

20 under section 501; 

21 ‘‘(D) good faith estimates of the total 

22 numbers of United States persons— 

23 ‘‘(i) whose tangible things were pro24 duced under an order entered under sec25 tion 501; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) who were a party to an electronic 

2 communication of which a record was pro3 duced under an order entered under sec4 tion 501, and the number of such persons 

5 whose records were subsequently reviewed 

6 or accessed by a Federal officer, employee, 

7 or agent; 

8 ‘‘(iii) who were a party to a wire com9 munication of which a record was produced 

10 under an order entered under section 501, 

11 and the number of such persons whose 

12 records were subsequently reviewed or 

13 accessed by a Federal officer, employee, or 

14 agent; and 

15 ‘‘(iv) who were subscribers or cus16 tomers of an electronic communication 

17 service or remote computing service and 

18 whose records, as described in subpara19 graph (A), (B), (D), (E), or (F) of section 

20 2703(c)(2) of title 18, United States Code, 

21 were produced under an order entered 

22 under section 501, and the number of such 

23 persons whose records were subsequently 

24 reviewed by a Federal officer, employee, or 

25 agent; 


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1 ‘‘(E) the total number of computer-assisted 

2 search queries initiated by a Federal officer, 

3 employee or agent in any database of tangible 

4 things produced under an order entered under 

5 section 501, and the number of such queries 

6 whose search terms included information from 

7 the electronic or wire communications contents 

8 or records of a United States person; and 

9 ‘‘(F) a certification confirming that in the 

10 course of the preceding year no orders entered 

11 under section 501 were used to obtain the con12 tents of an electronic or wire communication. 

13 ‘‘(2) STATEMENT OF NUMERICAL RANGE.—If 

14 an estimate described in subparagraph (C) or (D) of 

15 paragraph (1) is fewer than 500, it shall exclusively 

16 be expressed as a numerical range of ‘fewer than 

17 500’ and shall not be expressed as an individual 

18 number. 

19 ‘‘(3) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report under 

20 this subsection shall be submitted in unclassified 

21 form and shall be made available to the public 7 

22 days after the date such report is submitted to Con23 gress. 

24 ‘‘(4) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sub25 section shall be construed to authorize or in any 


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1 other way affect the lawfulness or unlawfulness of 

2 using an order for the production of tangible things 

3 under section 501 to obtain any of the items de4 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (H) of sub5 section (b)(3). 

6 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘contents’, 

8 ‘electronic communication’, ‘electronic commu9 nication service’, and ‘wire communication’ shall 

10 have the meanings given those terms in section 

11 2510 of title 18, United States Code. 

12 ‘‘(B) INDIVIDUAL PERSON.—The term ‘in13 dividual person’ means any individual and ex14 cludes any group, entity, association, corpora15 tion, or governmental entity. 

16 ‘‘(C) REMOTE COMPUTING SERVICE.—The 

17 term ‘remote computing service’ has the mean18 ing given that term in section 2711 of title 18, 

19 United States Code. 

20 ‘‘(D) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

21 ‘United States person’ means a citizen of the 

22 United States or an alien lawfully admitted for 

23 permanent residence (as defined in section 

24 101(a)(20) of the Immigration and Nationality 

25 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20))).’’. 


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1 (d) ENHANCED REPORTING FOR ADDITIONAL PRO2 CEDURES REGARDING CERTAIN PERSONS OUTSIDE THE

3 UNITED STATES.—Section 707 of the Foreign Intelligence 

4 Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1881f) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

7 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT.—In April of 

8 each year, the Attorney General shall submit to Con9 gress a report setting forth with respect to the pre10 ceding year— 

11 ‘‘(A) the total number of— 

12 ‘‘(i) directives issued under section 

13 702; 

14 ‘‘(ii) orders granted under section 

15 703; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) orders granted under section 

17 704; 

18 ‘‘(B) good faith estimates of the total num19 bers of individual persons whose electronic or 

20 wire communications or communications 

21 records were collected pursuant to— 

22 ‘‘(i) a directive issued under section 

23 702; 

24 ‘‘(ii) an order granted under section 

25 703; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) an order granted under section 

2 704; and 

3 ‘‘(C) good faith estimates of the total num4 bers of United States persons— 

5 ‘‘(i) whose electronic or wire commu6 nications contents or records were collected 

7 pursuant to— 

8 ‘‘(I) a directive issued under sec9 tion 702; 

10 ‘‘(II) an order granted under sec11 tion 703; and 

12 ‘‘(III) an order granted under 

13 section 704; 

14 ‘‘(ii) who were a party to an electronic 

15 communication whose contents were col16 lected pursuant to a directive issued under 

17 section 702, and the number of such per18 sons whose communication contents were 

19 subsequently reviewed or accessed by a 

20 Federal officer, employee, or agent; 

21 ‘‘(iii) who were a party to an elec22 tronic communication whose records (other 

23 than content) were collected pursuant to a 

24 directive issued under section 702, and the 

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1 tion records were subsequently reviewed or 

2 accessed by a Federal officer, employee, or 

3 agent; 

4 ‘‘(iv) who were a party to a wire com5 munication whose contents were collected 

6 pursuant to a directive issued under sec7 tion 702, and the number of such persons 

8 whose communication contents were subse9 quently reviewed or accessed by a Federal 

10 officer, employee, or agent; 

11 ‘‘(v) who were a party to a electronic 

12 communication whose records (other than 

13 content) were collected pursuant to a direc14 tive issued under section 702, and the 

15 number of such persons whose communica16 tion records were subsequently reviewed or 

17 accessed by a Federal officer, employee, or 

18 agent; and 

19 ‘‘(vi) who were subscribers or cus20 tomers of an electronic communication 

21 service or remote computing service whose 

22 records, as described in subparagraphs 

23 (A), (B), (D), (E), and (F) of section 

24 2703(c)(2) of title 18, United States Code, 

25 were produced pursuant to a directive 


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1 issued under section 702, and the number 

2 of such persons whose records were subse3 quently reviewed or accessed by a Federal 

4 officer, employee, or agent. 

5 ‘‘(2) STATEMENT OF NUMERICAL RANGE.—If 

6 an estimate specified in subparagraphs (B) or (C) of 

7 paragraph (1) is fewer than 500, it shall exclusively 

8 be expressed as a numerical range of ‘fewer than 

9 500’ and shall not be expressed as an individual 

10 number. 

11 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Each report 

12 under this subsection shall be submitted in unclassi13 fied form and shall be made available to the public 

14 7 days after the date such report is submitted to 

15 Congress. 

16 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘contents’, 

18 ‘electronic communication’, ‘electronic commu19 nication service’, and ‘wire communication’ have 

20 the same meanings given those terms in section 

21 2510 of title 18, United States Code. 

22 ‘‘(B) INDIVIDUAL PERSON.—The term ‘in23 dividual person’ means any individual and ex24 cludes any group, entity, association, corpora25 tion, or governmental entity. 


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1 ‘‘(C) REMOTE COMPUTING SERVICE.—The 

2 term ‘remote computing service’ shall have the 

3 same meaning given that term in section 2711 

4 of title 18, United States Code. 

5 ‘‘(D) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

6 ‘United States person’ means a citizen of the 

7 United States or an alien lawfully admitted for 

8 permanent residence (as defined in section 

9 101(a)(20) of the Immigration and Nationality 

10 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20))). 

11 ‘‘(5) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sub12 section shall be construed to authorize or in any 

13 other way affect the lawfulness or unlawfulness of 

14 using an order or directive under section 702, 703, 

15 or 704 to collect any of the information described in 

16 subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1).’’. 

17 (e) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec18 tion or the amendments made by this section shall be con19 strued— 

20 (1) to authorize the collection of any additional 

21 information, other than public demographic data, for 

22 the purpose of complying with the reporting require23 ments of this section; or 

24 (2) to authorize an amount of additional appro25 priations to carry out this section that is more than 


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1 the amount authorized for that purpose for fiscal 

2 year 2013. 

3 SEC. 3. PUBLIC DISCLOSURES OF AGGREGATE INFORMA4 TION RELATED TO ORDERS UNDER THE FOR5 EIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT OF 

6 1978. 

7 (a) DISCLOSURES.—The Foreign Intelligence Surveil8 lance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) is amended 

9 by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘TITLE IX—PUBLIC DISCLO11 SURES OF AGGREGATE IN12 FORMATION 

13 ‘‘SEC. 901. PUBLIC DISCLOSURES OF AGGREGATE INFOR14 MATION. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided under sub16 section (c), a person that has received an order under sec17 tion 105, 402, or 501, or an order or a directive under 

18 section 702, 703, or 704 may, every six months with re19 spect to the preceding six month period, disclose to the 

20 public information with respect to each statutory authority 

21 as follows: 

22 ‘‘(1) The total number of orders or directives 

23 received under the authority. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The percentage or total number of such 

2 orders or directives complied with, in whole or in 

3 part. 

4 ‘‘(3) The total number of individual persons, 

5 users, or accounts whose information of any kind 

6 was produced to the Government, or was obtained or 

7 collected by the Government, under an order or di8 rective received under the authority. 

9 ‘‘(b) NATURE OF PRODUCTION.—Except as provided 

10 under subsection (c), a person that has received an order 

11 under section 402 or 501, or an order or a directive under 

12 section 702 may, every six months with respect to the pre13 ceding six month period, disclose to the public the total 

14 number of individual persons, users, or accounts for whom 

15 the following information was produced to the Govern16 ment, or was obtained or collected by the Government, 

17 with respect to each such authority, if applicable: 

18 ‘‘(1) The contents of electronic communications. 

19 ‘‘(2) The contents of wire communications. 

20 ‘‘(3) Records concerning electronic communica21 tions. 

22 ‘‘(4) Records concerning wire communications. 

23 ‘‘(5) Information described in subparagraph 

24 (A), (B), (D), (E), or (F) of section 2703(c)(2) of 

25 title 18. 


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1 ‘‘(c) STATEMENT OF NUMERICAL RANGE.—If the 

2 total number of individual persons, users, or accounts 

3 specified in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) or in para4 graphs (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of subsection (b) is fewer 

5 than 500, it shall exclusively be expressed as a numerical 

6 range of ‘fewer than 500’ and shall not be expressed as 

7 an individual number. 

8 ‘‘(d) PERMITTED DISCLOSURE.—No cause of action 

9 shall lie in any court against any person for making a dis10 closure in accordance with this section. 

11 ‘‘(e) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall 

12 be construed— 

13 ‘‘(1) to authorize or in any other way affect the 

14 lawfulness or unlawfulness of using an order or di15 rective described in subsection (a) to obtain, collect, 

16 or secure the production of information described in 

17 paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of subsection 

18 (b); or 

19 ‘‘(2) to prohibit, implicitly preclude, or in any 

20 other way affect the lawfulness or unlawfulness of a 

21 disclosure not authorized by this section. 

22 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘contents’, ‘elec24 tronic communication’, and ‘wire communication’ 


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1 have the meanings given those terms in section 2510 

2 of title 18, United States Code. 

3 ‘‘(2) INDIVIDUAL PERSON.—The term ‘indi4 vidual person’ means any individual and excludes 

5 any group, entity, association, corporation, or gov6 ernmental entity. 

7 ‘‘(3) PERSON.—The term ‘person’ has the 

8 meaning given that term in section 101.’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Foreign In10 telligence Surveillance Act of 1978 is amended— 

11 (1) in section 402(d)(2)(B)(ii)(I) (50 U.S.C. 

12 1842(d)(2)(B)(ii)(I)), by inserting ‘‘except as per13 mitted by section 901,’’ before ‘‘shall not disclose’’; 

14 and 

15 (2) in section 501(d) (50 U.S.C. 1861(d))— 

16 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

17 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

18 ‘‘or’’ at the end; 

19 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

20 the period at the end and inserting a semi21 colon and ‘‘or’’; and 

22 (iii) by adding at the end the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(D) the public as permitted by section 901.’’; 

25 and 


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1 (B) in paragraph (2)(A) by inserting ‘‘sub2 paragraph (A), (B), or (C) of’’ after ‘‘pursuant 

3 to’’. 

4 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 

5 of contents in the first section of the Foreign Intelligence 

6 Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘TITLE IX—PUBLIC DISCLOSURES OF AGGREGATE INFORMATION 

‘‘Sec. 901. Public disclosures of aggregate information.’’. 

Æ 


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