Source: http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2000_hr/hayden.html
Timestamp: 2014-04-21 04:35:40
Document Index: 42902948

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1801', '§ 401', '§ 1801', '§ 3', '§ 1', '§ 1801']

The National Security Agency (NSA) performs electronic surveillance to collect foreign intelligence information for the military and policymakers. As the Director of Central Intelligence noted, NSA provides valuable intelligence to U.S. Government consumers on a wide range of issues of concern to all Americans, such as international terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. NSA's electronic surveillance activities are subject to strict regulation by statute1 and Executive Order2 due to the potential intrusiveness and the implications for the privacy of U.S. persons3 of these activities. NSA's electronic surveillance activities are also subject to oversight from multiple bodies within all three branches of the Government. These safeguards have ensured that NSA is operating within its legal authority. Background
The result today at NSA is an intelligence gathering system that operates within detailed, constitutionally-based, substantive, and procedural limits under the watchful eyes of Congress, numerous institutions within the Executive Branch, and -- through the FISA -- the judiciary. The privacy framework is technology neutral and does not require amendment to accommodate new communications technologies. Recently, NSA has been the subject of media reports which suggest that NSA collects all electronic communications, spies on U.S. citizens, and provides intelligence information to U.S. companies. There also have been claims that NSA activities are not subject to regulation or oversight. All of these claims are false or misleading. Today, I will describe NSA's electronic surveillance authority, the framework regulating that authority for the purpose of protecting privacy rights, and the oversight mechanisms in place to monitor NSA's activities.
NSA's electronic surveillance authority is found in Executive Order 12333, entitled "Intelligence Activities." Executive Order 12333 authorizes NSA to collect, process, and disseminate signals intelligence information for national foreign intelligence (and counterintelligence) purposes and in support of U.S. military operations.4 NSA is not authorized to collect all electronic communications. NSA is authorized to collect information only for foreign intelligence purposes and to provide it only to authorized Government recipients. This means that NSA is not authorized to provide signals intelligence information to private U.S. companies and we do not do so. Legal proscriptions notwithstanding, as a practical matter, it is not technically possible to collect all electronic communications everywhere in the world on an indiscriminate basis. Regulation of NSA's Electronic Surveillance Authority
Under FISA, NSA may only target communications of a U.S. person in the United States if a federal judge finds probable cause to believe that the U.S. person is an agent of a foreign power. Probable cause exists when facts and circumstances within the applicant's knowledge and of which he/she has reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient to warrant a person of reasonable caution to believe that the proposed target of the surveillance is an agent of a foreign power. Under the statute, a judge may determine a U.S. person to be an agent of a foreign power only if there is information to support a finding that the individual is a spy, terrorist, saboteur, or someone who aids or abets them. All FISA collection is regulated by special minimization procedures approved by the FISA Court and the Attorney General. Since the enactment of the FISA in 1978, there have been no more than a very few instances of NSA seeking FISA authorization to target a U.S. person in the United States. In those instances there was probable cause to believe that the individuals were involved in terrorism.
Executive Order 12333 - Restrictions Imposed on All Intelligence Collection Activities There are certain restrictions imposed by E.O. 12333 upon all intelligence collection activities engaged in by the Executive Branch agencies. Intelligence collection must be conducted in a manner "consistent with the Constitution and applicable law and respectful of the principles upon which the United States was founded." (Sec. 2.1). These include the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. Intelligence collection must not be undertaken to acquire information concerning the domestic activities of U.S. persons.
(Sec. 2.3(b)). The least intrusive collection techniques feasible must be used in the United States or against U.S. persons located abroad. (Sec. 2.4). Finally, agencies in the Intelligence Community are prohibited from having other parties engage in activities forbidden by the Executive Order on their behalf. (Sec. 2.12) This means that NSA can not ask another country to illegally spy on U.S. persons on our behalf, and we do not.
Executive Order 12333 Procedures - Specific Restrictions Imposed on NSA's Collection
Under E.O. 12333 and implementing regulations signed by the Secretary of Defense and approved by the Attorney General, NSA must obtain the Attorney General's approval before conducting electronic surveillance directed against a U.S. person abroad. The Attorney General must have probable cause to believe that the person is an agent of a foreign power, either an officer or employee of a foreign power, or a spy, terrorist, saboteur, or someone who aides or abets them. Occasionally, NSA seeks Attorney General authorization to target a "U.S. person" overseas. An example of such a request would be one seeking authorization to target a terrorist overseas who is a U.S. permanent resident alien. Executive Order 12333 Restrictions Relative to Retention and Dissemination of Unintentionally Acquired U.S. Person Information
Section 309 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY2000 (Pub. L. No. 106-120) called for me to submit a report to Congress prepared jointly with the Attorney General and the Director of Central Intelligence providing a detailed analysis of the legal standards employed by elements of the Intelligence Community in conducting signals intelligence activities, including electronic surveillance. The report we submitted in February of this year clearly demonstrates that there are legal standards and procedures in place to protect the privacy rights of U.S. persons when NSA and other Intelligence Community entities conduct electronic surveillance. Judicial Oversight
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq.
Exec. Order No. 12333, 3 C.F.R. 200 (1982), reprinted in 50 U.S.C. § 401 note.
"U.S. persons" is a term which includes citizens, permanent resident aliens, groups
substantially composed of either or both of these categories of individuals, and
corporations incorporated in the United States. See 50 U.S.C. § 1801(i) and E.O. 12333, § 3.4(i).
See Id. at § 1.12(b)(3), (4), (5), (6), and (7). Signals intelligence is
comprised of communications intelligence and electronics intelligence. Communications
intelligence consists of foreign communications passed by radio, wire, or other
electromagnetic means and electronics intelligence consists of foreign electromagnetic
radiations such as emissions from a radar system. National Security Council Intelligence
Directive 6, "Signals Intelligence."
See 50 U.S.C. § 1801(h).