A TRADITION OF SERVICE TO THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY

July 16, 2021

Honorable Jerrold Nadler

Chair

Committee on the Judiciary

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Mr. Chairman:

As required by 50 U.S.C. § 1873(a)(2), the Administrative Office of the United States 

Courts prepared and published the annual report on activities of the Foreign Intelligence 

Surveillance Courts for 2020 as mandated by the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015.

This report, which provides data for calendar year 2020, did not account for one amicus 

appointment. We have corrected the report that was published on the federal Judiciary’s website 

(https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/analysis-reports/directors-report-foreignintelligence-surveillance-courts) to reflect the additional amicus appointment.

If we may be of additional assistance to you, please contact our Office of Legislative 

Affairs at 202-502-1700.

Sincerely,

Roslynn R. Mauskopf

Director

Enclosure

cc: Honorable Jim Jordan

Identical letters sent to: Honorable Richard J. Durbin

Honorable Adam B. Schiff

Honorable Mark R. Warner
Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts 

on Activities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts for 2020

Introduction

Under 50 U.S.C. § 1873(a)(2), enacted as part of the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 (Pub. L. No. 114-23), the 

Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is required to publish statistical 

information on certain activities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC or the Court) and 

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) (collectively referred to as the FISA courts) as 

detailed in 50 U.S.C. § 1873(a)(1). This includes the number of applications or certifications submitted to 

the FISC and whether those requests were granted, modified, or denied. It also includes information on 

amicus curiae appointments by the FISA courts. This is the Director’s report for calendar year 2020.

Summary of Findings

The FISC disclosed that it received 579 applications in 2020. After consideration by the court, 404 orders 

were granted, 138 orders were modified, 24 orders were denied in part, and 13 applications were 

denied in full. After completing the declassification review specified in 50 U.S.C. § 1873(a)(1), the U.S. 

Department of Justice advised the AO that the number of certifications submitted and the number of 

orders modified under 50 U.S.C. § 1881a are classified for national security reasons and so are not 

included in these totals. Three appointments of a total of three individuals to serve as amici curiae were 

made by the FISA courts during this period.

Explanation of Selected Terms

More detailed statistics appear in the table below. An explanation of selected terms is provided as a 

reference to help readers understand what is included and excluded in the stated totals.

Applications or Certifications

The reported numbers include:

(1) applications or certifications that were filed in signed, final form pursuant to Rule 9(b) of the 

FISC Rules of Procedure; and

(2) proposed applications or certifications (submitted pursuant to Rule 9(a) of the FISC Rules of 

Procedure) for which the government decided not to submit a corresponding signed, final 

application or certification pursuant to Rule 9(b) after being advised that the Court, based on its 

assessment of the proposed application or certification, would not grant the application or 

certification as proposed by the government.

The reported numbers do not include motions or other requests for relief made after the Court acted on 

the application or certification in that docket.

Orders Granted

The reported numbers include orders granted without substantive modifications to the orders proposed 

by the government. They do not include any action taken by the Court in response to motions or other 

requests for relief made after the Court acted on the application or certification in a docket.
Orders Modified

The reported numbers include:

(1) any substantive modifications to proposed orders that accompanied a signed, final 

application or certification submitted by the government pursuant to Rule 9(b), including when 

such modifications were effected through a supplemental order issued by the Court; and

(2) any substantive modifications to proposed orders that accompanied proposed applications 

or certifications submitted by the government pursuant to Rule 9(a) when such modifications 

resulted from the Court’s assessment of such a submission, including when such modifications 

were subsequently reflected in a proposed order that accompanied a signed, final application or 

certification submitted by the government pursuant to Rule 9(b). 

The following Court actions are among those that would be regarded as substantive modifications to an 

order: 

(1) imposing a new reporting requirement or modifying one proposed by the government;

(2) changing the description or specification of a targeted person, of a facility to be subjected to 

electronic surveillance or of property to be searched;

(3) modifying the minimization procedures proposed by the government; or

(4) shortening the duration of some or all of the authorities requested.

The numbers of modification in the table below do not include dispositions in which the Court granted in 

part and denied in part the authorizations requested by the government by approving some targets, 

some facilities, places, premises, property or specific selection terms, and/or some forms of collection,

but not others. As discussed below, these modifications are reported separately as partial denials of the 

relief sought in the application or certification.

The reported numbers of orders modified likewise do not include:

(1) any actions taken by the Court in response to motions or other requests for relief made after 

the Court acted on the application or certification in that docket; or 

(2) any modifications made by the government to an application or certification that it had 

submitted pursuant to Rule 9(a) or Rule 9(b) – as opposed to modifications to the proposed 

orders submitted therewith. 

In some instances, the Court examination resulted in the government making material changes 

to applications and certifications; for example, proffering additional facts to support a required 

judicial finding of probable cause or to address minimization concerns. Consistent with the 

statutory mandate in 50 U.S.C. § 1873(a), however, the number reported in this category 

includes only cases in which there were substantive modifications to the government’s 

proposed orders.
Orders Denied in Part

As noted above, consistent with the Director’s reports since 2016, partial denials of the relief sought by 

the government are captured separately under the heading “Orders Denied in Part.” These are 

dispositions in which the Court granted in part and denied in part the authorizations requested by the 

government by approving some targets, some facilities, places, premises, property or specific selection 

terms, and/or some forms of collection, but not others. 

Applications or Certifications Denied

The reported numbers include:

(1) any cases in which the Court denied in its entirety a final, signed application or certification 

submitted by the government pursuant to Rule 9(b);

(2) any cases in which the government withdrew a final, signed application or certification it had 

submitted pursuant to Rule 9(b) after being advised that the Court would not grant the 

application or certification as submitted by the government; and

(3) any cases in which the government decided not to submit a final, signed application or 

certification pursuant to Rule 9(b) after being advised that the Court, based on its assessment of 

the corresponding proposed application or certification submitted pursuant to Rule 9(a), would 

not grant the application or certification as proposed by the government.

(Remainder of this page is left intentionally blank.)
Table 1

In accordance with the reporting requirements specified in 50 U.S.C. § 1873(a)(1), the statistics in this 

table are itemized by section of the statute. Some of the statistics reported herein differ from those in 

comparable reports prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Director of National 

Intelligence (DNI) because those agencies track and tabulate actions taken only with respect to final 

applications and certifications filed pursuant to Rule 9(b).

Section Applications or 

Certifications

Orders 

Granted

Orders 

Modified

Orders 

Denied in 

Part

Applications or 

Certifications 

Denied

1805 only 52 38 12 1 1

1824 only 25 18 5 0 2

1805 and 

1824†

412 278 104 21 9

1842 15 12 3 0 0

1861 28 16 10 2 0

1881a ‡ 0 ‡ 0 0

1881b 0 0 0 0 0

1881c 47 42 4 0 1 †

Requests for combined authority to conduct electronic surveillance and physical searches under 50 U.S.C. § 1805 and § 1824, respectively, are 

included in this row and are not separately reflected in the rows addressing requests for authority to conduct electronic surveillance (Section 

1805) and physical search (Section 1824) above. 

‡ After completing the declassification review specified in 50 U.S.C. § 1873(a)(1), the U.S. Department of Justice has advised the AO that these

numbers are currently classified for national security reasons.

Amicus Curiae

50 U.S.C. § 1803(i)(2) authorizes the FISA courts to appoint individuals to serve as amici curiae. Under 50 

U.S.C. § 1803(i)(2)(A), a FISA court must appoint an individual to serve as amicus curiae to assist the 

court in the consideration of any application for an order or review that, in the opinion of such court, 

presents a novel or significant interpretation of the law, unless it issues a finding that such appointment 

is not appropriate. Furthermore, a FISA court may appoint an individual or organization to serve as 

amicus curiae in any instance as such court deems appropriate or, upon motion, permit an individual or 

organization leave to file an amicus curiae brief. 50 U.S.C. § 1803(i)(2)(B).

For purposes of reporting under 50 U.S.C. § 1873(a)(1)(E), each instance of an individual receiving an 

appointment is counted separately, such as when more than one individual is appointed in the same 

matter, or when the same individual is appointed by the FISC and the FISCR at different stages of the 

same case. 

During the reporting period, there were three appointments of three individuals to serve as amici curiae 

by the FISA courts. The names of the individuals appointed during the reporting period to serve as amici

curiae are as follows: David Kris, Amy Jeffress and Tianyi Xin. No findings were made in 2020, pursuant 

to 50 U.S.C. § 1803(i)(2)(A), that an amicus curiae appointment was not appropriate. 
Consistent with the Director’s reports since 2017, this report also specially notes instances in which the 

Court advised the government that it was considering appointment of an amicus curiae to address a 

novel or significant question of law raised in a proposed application, but the government ultimately did 

not proceed with the proposed application or modified the final application such that it did not present 

a novel or significant question of law, thereby obviating a requirement for consideration as to the 

appropriateness of appointment of amicus. There was one such instance in 2020, which is reflected in 

the table above as a partial denial of the application at issue.