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I. (U) Introduction

(U) The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (the “Board”) presents this report to
provide greater transparency and clarity on how the government implemented certain authorities
created or extended by the USA Freedom Act. In particular, the report examines collection of
phone call detail records (“CDRs”) under the USA Freedom Act, which has proven to be of great
public interest. CDRs include some of the information that typically appears on a customer’s
phone bill: the date and time of a call, its duration, and the participating phone numbers. CDRs
never include the content of phone conversations. The CDRs received under the USA Freedom
Act also did not include names, street addresses, financial information, global positioning system
information, or cell-site location information.

(U) The Board hopes this report will help Congress, executive branch agencies, and the
public understand the government’s use of these authorities and any related privacy and civil
liberties concerns, particularly in light of the impending sunset. The Board worked with other
government agencies to declassify information to achieve the greatest degree of transparency
consistent with the protection of classified or otherwise privileged information. As a result,
some of the facts presented in this report are being disclosed to the public for the first time. The
Board looks forward to further collaboration with Congress and other executive branch agencies
to “ensure that liberty concerns are appropriately considered in the development and
implementation of laws, regulations, and policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against
terrorism.”
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A. (U) FISA and the Pre-2015 Bulk Collection Program

(U) Since 1998, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) has permitted the
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government to obtain business records for use in national-security investigations. Under the first
iteration of this provision, the government could obtain business records associated with car
rentals, storage units, public accommodations, and common carriers. Any request for business
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records in an investigation of a US person must be based on a counterterrorism or

3 (U) 42 U.S.C. § 2000ee(c)(2).
4 (U) FISA, originally passed in 1978, created a statutory regime regulating the government’s use of certain
investigatory techniques for national security purposes. Among other things, FISA created a special court,
comprised of Article III judges, to hear government applications to use those techniques. See 50 U.S.C. § 1801 et
seq.

5 (U) 50 U.S.C. § 1862(b)(2)(B) (2000).

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