The FBI has implemented new protocols that allegedly enhance privacy safeguards for Americans, when bureau agents search through the NSA’s massive intelligence databases for information.
It can’t be confirmed, however, since details about the reported minimization procedures are classified. They were approved by the top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which oversees sensitive spying operations, both domestic and abroad.
US officials confirmed the changes to The Guardian in a report published on Tuesday.
“Changes have been implemented,” an unnamed official told the paper. “We cannot comment further due to classification.”
A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told The Guardian that they’re “considering releasing” the FBI’s latest minimization procedures.
“Due to other ongoing reviews, we do not have a set date that review will be completed,” they said.
The reforms revealed Tuesday were based on a 2014 report by an executive branch watchdog, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).
That report described how the FBI can directly access NSA foreign intelligence repositories for routine investigations. Once inside, agents can indirectly collect information belonging to American citizens without a warrant — a procedure described as a “backdoor search loophole” by privacy-minded Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
In a report published Saturday, the PCLOB alluded to “revised FBI minimized procedures.” A spokesperson for the board, Sharon Bradford Franklin, told The Guardian that classification rules prevented her from specifying, but that “they do apply additional limits” on the FBI.
Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the NSA collects enormous amounts of supposedly foreign intelligence, either through siphoning off data from internet fiber cable connections around the world or through direct requests to telecom companies.
The wide net cast by agency often leads to “incidental” collection of US citizens’ online data, particularly Americans with ties to foreign individuals targeted for surveillance. The scope of the program was first revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.
Section 702 is set to expire at the end of next year without congressional reauthorization. The House Judiciary Committee held a secret hearing on the provision last month.
Angry, shocked, overwhelmed? Take action: Support independent media.
We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
It will be a long fight ahead. And as nonprofit movement media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.
As we undertake this life-sustaining work, we appeal for your support. We have 24 hours left in our fundraiser: Please, if you find value in what we do, join our community of sustainers by making a monthly or one-time gift.