Page 4 - pclob usa freedom

TOP SECRET//SI//NOFORN

(U) Executive Summary

(U) The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (the “Board”) presents this report to
provide greater transparency and clarity about the collection of phone call detail records
(“CDRs”) under the USA Freedom Act. This authority is scheduled to sunset on March 15,
2020.

(U) The Board commenced work on this report in January 2019. Subsequently, in early
2019, NSA suspended its collection of CDRs under the USA Freedom Act. NSA halted the
program “after balancing the program’s relative intelligence value, associated costs, and
compliance and data-integrity concerns caused by the unique complexities of using these
1
provider-generated business records for intelligence purposes.” The Board proceeded to
complete the report, which it offers to enhance the public’s understanding of the program and to
assist Congress as it considers the reauthorization of statutory language related to the CDR
program.

(U) Program Legality and Operation

(U) The USA Freedom Act amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”)
to expressly bar the government from using its business records collection authority for bulk
collection. This prohibition effectively ended the bulk telephony metadata program that the
government had operated under the then-existing version of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

(U) At the same time, the USA Freedom Act allows the government to obtain CDRs on a
broader basis than other business records authorized for collection under the Act. Put simply, it
authorizes the government to collect CDRs within two hops—e.g., a person’s contacts, and those
contacts’ contacts—of a specific selection term. Specific selection terms, such as a phone
number or International Mobile Equipment Identity number, must be associated with a foreign
power engaged in international terrorism and be approved by the FISA court. The Act also
provides that CDRs cannot include the contents of any communication; the name, address, or
financial information of a subscriber or customer; or cell-site location or global positioning
system information. In 2018, the government obtained a relatively low number of FISA court
orders—14—and collected a large number of CDRs—more than 434 million, including an
unknown number of duplicates, involving 19 million phone numbers.

1 (U) Letter from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to Senators Richard Burr, Lindsey Graham, Mark
Warner, and Dianne Feinstein (Aug. 14, 2019).
1

Classified By: Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Derived From: ODNI CG
Declassify On: 20441231

TOP SECRET//SI//NOFORN