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(U) In 2013, unauthorized disclosures of classified documents by Edward Snowden
revealed the nature and scope of the CDR program (among other intelligence activities). The
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President and House Minority Leader asked the Board to review aspects of the CDR program.
The President also ordered a separate review group to evaluate the program and consider
modifications to its operations.
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B. (U) The Board’s Section 215 Report

(U) The Board issued its report on the CDR program in 2014 (the “2014 Board
Report”). In that Report, the Board concluded that the program was not authorized by Section
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215 of the USA Patriot Act and conflicted with another federal statute, the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act.
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(U) The 2014 Board Report made two major recommendations concerning the CDR
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program: (1) the US government should discontinue the bulk collection program; and (2) to the
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extent the program continued, the executive branch should add certain privacy safeguards. The
Report contained an additional ten recommendations for enhancing oversight and transparency.
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(U) In light of these recommendations and the report of the President’s review group,
the President ordered NSA to query the CDRs collected under the CDR program only if (1) a
FISA court judge first approved the seed number for such queries based on a judicial finding, or
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(2) in the case of a true emergency. Seed numbers were generally phone numbers, but could

20 (U) See Remarks by the President at a White House Press Conference (Aug. 9, 2013),
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/remarks-president-press-conference; Letter from
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to Chairman David Medine (July 11, 2013), https://www.pclob.gov/library/Letter-
Pelosi.pdf.
21 (U) The White House, Presidential Memorandum—Reviewing Our Global Signals Intelligence Collection and
Communications Technologies (Aug. 12, 2013), https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-
office/2013/08/12/presidential-memorandum-reviewing-our-global-signals-intelligence-collec.
22 (U) 2014 Board Report.
23 (U) 2014 Board Report at 8–10 (“That statute prohibits telephone companies from sharing customer records with
the government except in response to specific enumerated circumstances, which do not include Section 215
orders.”).
24 (U) 2014 Board Report at 168–72. Two of the five Board Members did not believe the program should be
discontinued before an adequate alternative was instituted. See 2014 Board Report at 208–18.
25 (U) 2014 Board Report at 168–72.
26 (U) 2014 Board Report at 173–206.
27 (U) The White House, Liberty and Security in a Changing World (Dec. 12, 2013),
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2013-12-12_rg_final_report.pdf.
28 (U) The White House, Remarks by the President on Review of Signals Intelligence (Jan. 17, 2014),
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/remarks-president-review-signals-intelligence;

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