I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7891 
To improve the ability of law enforcement agencies to access encrypted data, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2020 
Mrs. WAGNER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Intel-
ligence (Permanent Select), and Science, Space, and Technology, for a 
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To improve the ability of law enforcement agencies to access 
encrypted data, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lawful Access to 
Encrypted Data Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
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TITLE I—DATA AT REST 
Sec. 101. Data at rest. 
TITLE II—DATA IN MOTION 
Sec. 201. Assistance. 
Sec. 202. Capability. 
Sec. 203. CALEA amendment. 
TITLE III—ASSISTANCE CAPABILITY DIRECTIVES 
Sec. 301. Assistance capability directives. 
TITLE IV—PEN REGISTER AND TRAP AND TRACE AMENDMENTS 
Sec. 401. Capability requirements. 
Sec. 402. Defining technical assistance. 
TITLE V—FISA AMENDMENTS 
Sec. 501. Electronic surveillance within the United States for foreign intel-
ligence purposes. 
Sec. 502. Physical searches within the United States for foreign intelligence 
purposes. 
Sec. 503. Pen register; trap and trace. 
Sec. 504. Business records. 
Sec. 505. Certain acquisitions inside the United States targeting United States 
persons outside the United States. 
TITLE VI—PRIZE COMPETITION 
Sec. 601. Findings. 
Sec. 602. Definitions. 
Sec. 603. Prize competition. 
Sec. 604. Implementation. 
Sec. 605. Judges. 
Sec. 606. Report to Congress. 
Sec. 607. Authorization of appropriations. 
Sec. 608. Termination of authority. 
TITLE VII—LAWFUL ACCESS TRAINING 
Sec. 701. Lawful access training program. 
TITLE VIII—EFFECTIVE DATE 
Sec. 801. Effective date. 
TITLE I—DATA AT REST 
SEC. 101. DATA AT REST. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 205 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘§ 3119. Assistance orders to third parties and capa-
bility requirements 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘consumer electronic device’ 
means a device that— 
‘‘(A) may be purchased by a member of 
the general public; and 
‘‘(B) can be configured to store 1 gigabyte 
of data or more; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘court of competent jurisdiction’ 
means— 
‘‘(A) a district court of the United States 
(including a magistrate judge of such a court) 
or a United States court of appeals; and 
‘‘(B) a court of general criminal jurisdic-
tion of a State authorized by the law of that 
State to issue search warrants; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘device manufacturer’ means a 
person who designs, manufactures, fabricates, or as-
sembles a finished consumer electronic device; 
‘‘(4) the term ‘governmental entity’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 2711; 
‘‘(5) the term ‘operating system provider’ 
means a person who designs, markets, or sells soft-
ware that— 
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‘‘(A) controls the operation of a consumer 
electronic device; and 
‘‘(B) directs the processing of programs on 
the consumer electronic device (such as by as-
signing storage space in memory and control-
ling input and output functions); 
‘‘(6) the term ‘remote computing service’ has 
the meaning given the term in section 2711; and 
‘‘(7) the term ‘State’ means any State of the 
United States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or pos-
session of the United States. 
‘‘(b) COURT ORDER FOR ASSISTANCE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A court of competent juris-
diction, in support of a search warrant based upon 
probable cause issued by the court that authorizes 
the search of an electronic device or remotely stored 
electronic information, shall, upon receiving a mo-
tion described in paragraph (3) that states reason-
able grounds to believe that the assistance required 
by the order will aid in the execution of the warrant, 
order a device manufacturer, an operating system 
provider, a provider of remote computing service, or 
another person to furnish all information, facilities, 
and assistance necessary to access information 
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stored on an electronic device or to access remotely 
stored electronic information, as authorized by the 
search warrant. 
‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE.—The information, facilities, 
and assistance ordered to be furnished under para-
graph (1) shall include— 
‘‘(A) isolating the information authorized 
to be searched; 
‘‘(B) decrypting or decoding information 
on the electronic device or remotely stored elec-
tronic information that is authorized to be 
searched, or otherwise providing such informa-
tion in an intelligible format, unless the inde-
pendent actions of an unaffiliated entity make 
it technically impossible to do so; and 
‘‘(C) providing technical support as nec-
essary to ensure effective execution of the war-
rant for the electronic devices particularly de-
scribed by the warrant. 
‘‘(3) MOTION.—An attorney for a governmental 
entity may move that the court issue an order under 
this subsection— 
‘‘(A) after a search warrant that author-
izes the search of an electronic device or re-
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motely stored electronic information has been 
issued; or 
‘‘(B) concurrently with an application for a 
search warrant described in subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(4) COMPENSATION AND EXEMPTION FROM LI-
ABILITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), a device manufacturer, operating 
system provider, provider of remote computing 
service, or other person furnishing information, 
facilities, or assistance pursuant to an order 
issued under this subsection— 
‘‘(i) shall be compensated for reason-
able expenses directly incurred in com-
plying with the order; and 
‘‘(ii) may not be held civilly liable to 
any party for any action taken that is rea-
sonably necessary to comply with the 
order. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Reasonable expenses 
under subparagraph (A) may not exceed $300. 
‘‘(c) CAPABILITY TO ASSIST.— 
‘‘(1) DEVICE MANUFACTURERS.—A device man-
ufacturer that sold more than 1,000,000 consumer 
electronic devices in the United States in 2016 or 
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any calendar year thereafter, or that has received an 
assistance capability directive under section 3513, 
shall ensure that the manufacturer has the ability to 
provide the assistance described in subsection (b)(2) 
for any consumer electronic device that the manufac-
turer— 
‘‘(A) designs, manufactures, fabricates, or 
assembles; and 
‘‘(B) intends for sale or distribution in the 
United States. 
‘‘(2) PROVIDERS OF REMOTE COMPUTING SERV-
ICE; OPERATING SYSTEM PROVIDERS.—A provider of 
remote computing service or operating system pro-
vider that provided service to more than 1,000,000 
subscribers or users in the United States in 2016 or 
any calendar year thereafter, or that has received an 
assistance capability directive under section 3513, 
shall ensure that the provider has the ability to pro-
vide the assistance described in subparagraphs (A) 
and (B) of subsection (b)(2) for any remotely stored 
data that the provider processes or stores. 
‘‘(3) CONTRACTING
AUTHORIZED.—A device 
manufacturer, provider of remote computing service, 
or operating system provider may satisfy the obliga-
tions under this subsection by contracting with any 
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other United States person or entity to provide the 
required assistance. 
‘‘(4) COSTS.—A device manufacturer, provider 
of remote computing service, or operating system 
provider to which this subsection applies shall bear 
the costs associated with the development of the ca-
pability required under this subsection, including 
any contracting costs incurred by the device manu-
facturer, provider of remote computing service, or 
operating system provider under paragraph (3), un-
less the manufacturer or provider has received an 
assistance capability directive under section 3513.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of sections for chapter 205 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘3119. Assistance orders to third parties and capability requirements.’’. 
(c) APPLICABILITY.—The obligation under section 
3119(c)(1) of title 18, United States Code, as added by 
subsection (a), shall apply with respect to a consumer elec-
tronic device manufactured on or after the effective date 
in section 801 of this Act. 
TITLE II—DATA IN MOTION 
SEC. 201. ASSISTANCE. 
Section 2518(4) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended, in the undesignated matter following paragraph 
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(e), by striking ‘‘with a minimum of interference with the 
services that such service provider, landlord, custodian, or 
person is according the person whose communications are 
to be intercepted. Any provider of wire or electronic com-
munication service, landlord, custodian or other person 
furnishing such facilities or technical assistance shall be 
compensated therefor by the applicant for reasonable ex-
penses incurred in providing such facilities or assistance.’’ 
and inserting the following: ‘‘in a manner designed to up-
hold 
the 
nondisclosure 
obligations 
under 
section 
2511(2)(a)(ii). 
Such furnishing of information, facilities, and technical as-
sistance shall include— 
‘‘(i) isolating all communications au-
thorized to be intercepted; 
‘‘(ii) decrypting, decoding, or other-
wise providing in an intelligible format the 
communications authorized to be inter-
cepted, unless the independent actions of 
an unaffiliated entity make it technically 
impossible to do so; and 
‘‘(iii) delivering all communications 
authorized to be intercepted securely, reli-
ably, and concurrently with their trans-
mission. 
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Any provider of wire or electronic communication service, 
landlord, custodian, or other person furnishing such infor-
mation, facilities, or technical assistance shall be com-
pensated therefor by the applicant for reasonable expenses 
directly incurred in providing such information, facilities, 
or assistance.’’. 
SEC. 202. CAPABILITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 119 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 2524. Capability requirements 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A provider of wire or electronic 
communication service that had more than 1,000,000 
monthly active users in the United States in January 2016 
or any month thereafter, or has received an assistance ca-
pability directive under section 3513, shall ensure that the 
provider has the ability to provide the information, facili-
ties, and technical assistance described in section 2518(4). 
‘‘(b) CALCULATION OF MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS.— 
For purposes of subsection (a), the number of monthly 
active users of a wire or electronic communication service 
shall be calculated by taking the average of the number 
of individual users or subscribers of the service that are 
active per month in any calendar year. 
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‘‘(c) COSTS.—A provider of wire or electronic commu-
nication service to which subsection (a) applies shall bear 
any costs associated with the development of the capability 
required under that subsection, unless the provider has re-
ceived an assistance capability directive under section 
3513.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of sections for chapter 119 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘2524. Capability requirements.’’. 
SEC. 203. CALEA AMENDMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 103(b)(3) of the Commu-
nications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (47 U.S.C. 
1002(b)(3)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘, or ensuring the government’s 
ability to decrypt,’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘the encryption was provided’’ 
and inserting ‘‘the means of encryption or other en-
coding was implemented by or facilitated’’; and 
(3) by striking ‘‘and the carrier possesses the 
information necessary to decrypt the communica-
tion’’. 
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TITLE III—ASSISTANCE 
CAPABILITY DIRECTIVES 
SEC. 301. ASSISTANCE CAPABILITY DIRECTIVES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 223 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 3513. Assistance capability directives 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—The definitions in sections 2510 
and 3119 shall apply to this section. 
‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF DIRECTIVES AND PROCEDURE 
FOR ISSUING.— 
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Attorney Gen-
eral makes the applicable finding with respect 
to a person under paragraph (3), the Attorney 
General may direct the person to create or 
maintain any of the assistance capabilities de-
scribed in section 2518, 2524, 3119, 3127, or 
3128. 
‘‘(B) WRITTEN
DIRECTIVE.—A directive 
issued under subparagraph (A) shall be in writ-
ing. 
‘‘(2) REQUIRED
REPORTING.—Not later than 
30 days after the date on which a person receives a 
directive from the Attorney General under para-
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graph (1), the person shall report to the Attorney 
General, or a designee of the Attorney General, on, 
at a minimum— 
‘‘(A) any technical capabilities that the 
person knows or expects to be necessary to im-
plement and comply with an anticipated court 
order or other lawful authorization under sec-
tion 2518, 3119, or 3123; and 
‘‘(B) the timeline of the person for devel-
oping and deploying the technical capabilities 
described in subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(3) FINDINGS.—The Attorney General may 
issue a directive to a person under paragraph (1) 
only if the Attorney General finds— 
‘‘(A) in the case of assistance capabilities 
described in section 2518, 2524, or 3128 that 
during the preceding calendar year, communica-
tions occurring over services the person offers, 
provides, or has access to were subject to not 
fewer than 5 court orders issued under— 
‘‘(i) chapter 119 of this title; or 
‘‘(ii) the Foreign Intelligence Surveil-
lance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et 
seq.); or 
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